Israel/Palestine

Honour Crimes Shame the World - Robert Fisk

Publication Date: 
September 7, 2010
Source: 
The Independent
Robert Fisk

 

It's one of the last great taboos: the murder of at least 20,000 women a year in the name of 'honour'. Nor is the problem confined to the Middle East: the contagion is spreading rapidly

By Robert Fisk* - 7 September 2010

 
It is a tragedy, a horror, a crime against humanity. The details of the murders – of the women beheaded, burned to death, stoned to death, stabbed, electrocuted, strangled and buried alive for the "honour" of their families – are as barbaric as they are shameful. Many women's groups in the Middle East and South-west Asia suspect the victims are at least four times the United Nations' latest world figure of around 5,000 deaths a year. Most of the victims are young, many are teenagers, slaughtered under a vile tradition that goes back hundreds of years but which now spans half the globe.

 

 

A 10-month investigation by The Independent in Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt, Gaza and the West Bank has unearthed terrifying details of murder most foul. Men are also killed for "honour" and, despite its identification by journalists as a largely Muslim practice, Christian and Hindu communities have stooped to the same crimes. Indeed, the "honour" of families, communities and tribes transcends religion and human mercy. But voluntary women's groups, human rights organisations, Amnesty International and news archives suggest that the slaughter of the innocent for "dishonouring" their families is increasing by the year.

Unnamed woman

A resident of Beit J'an and warden in the Israel Prison Service is suspected of killing his daughter by shooting her in the head.

Unnamed woman

Ramallah – Ma’an – Palestinian police said on Monday they arrested a 24-year-old who allegedly killed his aunt, whose body was found in the West Bank city of Ramallah six days ago.

Rihab Al-Hazin and three members of the Olaiwa family

Bethlehem – Ma’an – A woman was killed on Monday morning in the Gaza Strip in the fourth killing related to so-called “family” honor in the last week.

Unnamed Girl

An Israeli Arab man was indicted on Sunday after police learned that he solicited his 16-year-old son to murder the boy's 21-year-old sister for bringing shame on the family with her "immodest" attire

Unnamed Girl

Father accused of soliciting son to murder sister

Name Unknown

Dubai, UAE (AlArabiya.net)

A Palestinian woman died after her father buried her alive claiming he wanted to preserve the "family honor." The father, in his seventies, turned himself in and admitted to killing his 24-year-old divorced daughter.

After investigating the crime scene, the police discovered that the woman’s father had tied her arms and legs and muzzled her before burying her alive. According to press reports on Monday, the coroner was to examine the body to determine whether the woman was also beaten before her death.

Hamda Abu Ghanem

An Israeli court sentenced a man to 16 years in prison on Tuesday for aiding in the so-called honor killing of his sister. The case was unusual in that the women of the family broke their code of silence and testified against the man. (New York Times)

The murder victim, Hamda Abu Ghanem, was shot and killed in her home in Ramla, a mixed town of Jews and Arabs in central Israel, in January 2007. She was 18 at the time, and was the eighth female member of the Abu Ghanem clan to have been killed in seven years.