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On February 12, 2009, Muzzammil Hassan informed police that he had
beheaded his wife. Hassan had emigrated to the United States 30 years
ago and, after a successful banking career, had founded Bridges TV, a
Muslim-interest network which aims, according to its website, "to foster
a greater understanding among many cultures and diverse populations."
Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III told The Buffalo
News that "this is the worst form of domestic violence possible," and
Khalid Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western
New York, told the New York Post that Islam forbids such domestic
violence. While Muslim advocacy organizations argue that honor killings
are a misnomer stigmatizing Muslims for what is simply domestic
violence, a problem that has nothing to do with religion, Phyllis
Chesler, who just completed a study of more than 50 instances of North
American honor killings, says the evidence suggests otherwise. — The
Editors
 Amina Said (L), 18, and |
When a husband murders a wife
or daughter in the United States and Canada, too often law enforcement
chalks the matter up to domestic violence. Murder is murder; religion is
irrelevant. Honor killings are, however, distinct from wife battering and
child abuse. Analysis of more than fifty reported honor killings shows
they differ significantly from more common domestic violence.[1] The frequent argument made by Muslim
advocacy organizations that honor killings have nothing to do with Islam
and that it is discriminatory to differentiate between honor killings and
domestic violence is wrong.
Background and Denial
Families that kill for honor will threaten girls and women if they
refuse to cover their hair, their faces, or their bodies or act as their
family's domestic servant; wear makeup or Western clothing; choose friends
from another religion; date; seek to obtain an advanced education; refuse
an arranged marriage; seek a divorce from a violent husband; marry against
their parents' wishes; or behave in ways that are considered too
independent, which might mean anything from driving a car to spending time
or living away from home or family. Fundamentalists of many religions may
expect their women to meet some but not all of these expectations. But
when women refuse to do so, Jews, Christians, and Buddhists are far more
likely to shun rather than murder them. Muslims,
however, do kill for honor, as do, to a lesser extent, Hindus
and Sikhs.
The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 5,000
women are killed each year for dishonoring their families.[2]
This may be an underestimate. Aamir Latif, a
correspondent for the Islamist website Islam Online who writes
frequently on the issue, reported that in 2007 in the Punjab province of
Pakistan alone, there were 1,261 honor murders.[3] The Aurat Foundation, a Pakistani nongovernmental organization focusing on women's empowerment, found that the rate of honor killings was on track to be in the hundreds in 2008.[4]
There are very few studies of honor killing, however, as the
motivation for such killings is cleansing alleged dishonor and the
families do not wish to bring further attention to their shame, so do not
cooperate with researchers. Often, they deny honor crimes completely and
say the victim simply went missing or committed suicide. Nevertheless,
honor crimes are increasingly visible in the media. Police, politicians,
and feminist activists in Europe and in some Muslim countries are
beginning to treat them as a serious social problem.[5]
Willingness to address the problem of honor killing,
however, does not extend to many Muslim advocacy groups in North America.
The well-publicized denials of U.S.-based advocacy groups are ironic given
the debate in the Middle East. While the religious establishment in
Jordan, for example, says that honor killing is a relic of pre-Islamic
Arab culture, Muslim Brotherhood groups in Jordan have publicly disagreed
to argue the Islamic religious imperative to protect honor.[6]
Yotam Feldner, a researcher at the Middle East Media
Research Institute, quotes a psychiatrist in Gaza who describes the honor
killing culture as one in which a man who refrains from "washing shame
with blood" is a "coward who is not worthy of living ... as less than a
man." Therefore, it is no surprise that the Jordanian penal code is quite
lenient towards honor killers. While honor killing may be a custom that
originated in the pagan, pre-Islamic past, contemporary Islamist
interpretations of religious law prevail. As Feldner puts it: "Some
important Islamic scholars in Jordan have even gone further by declaring
honor crimes an Islamic imperative that derives from the 'values of
virility advocated by Islam.'"[7]
Islamist advocacy organizations, however, argue that such
killings have nothing to do with Islam or Muslims, that domestic violence
cuts across all faiths, and that the phrase "honor killing" stigmatizes
Muslims whose behavior is no different than that of non-Muslims. For
example, in response to a well-publicized 2000 honor killing,
SoundVision.com, an Islamic information and products site,
published an article that argued,
Four other women were killed in Chicago in the same month ... They
were white, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian … Islam is not
responsible for [the Muslim woman's] death. Nor is Christianity
responsible for the deaths of the other women.[8]
In 2007, after Aqsa Parvez was murdered by her father in
Toronto for not wearing hijab (a head covering), Sheila Musaji
wrote in the American Muslim, "Although this certainly is a case of
domestic violence … 'honor' killings are not only a Muslim problem, and
there is no 'honor' involved."[9]
Mohammed Elmasry, of the Canadian Islamic Congress, also dismissed the
problem. "I don't want the public to think that this is an Islamic issue
or an immigrant issue. It is a teenager issue," he said.[10]
Indeed, denial is rife. In 2008, after Kandeela Sandal was
murdered for honor by her father in Atlanta because she wanted a divorce,
Ajay Nair, associate dean of multicultural affairs at Columbia University,
told the media that "most South Asian communities in the United States"
enjoy "wonderful" relationships within their families and said, "This
isn't a rampant problem within South Asian communities. What is a problem,
I think, is domestic violence, and that cuts across all communities."[11] In October 2008, Mustafaa Carroll,
executive director of the Dallas branch of the Council of American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), dismissed any Islamic connection to a prominent Dallas
honor killing, labeled as such by the FBI, arguing, "As far as we're
concerned, until the motive is proven in a court of law, this is [just] a
homicide." He continued, "We [Muslims] don't have the market on jealous
husbands ... or domestic violence … This is not Islamic culture." [12]
Case studies suggest otherwise.
Domestic Violence versus Honor Killing
Domestic violence is a significant problem in the United
States. Between 1989 and 2004, 21,124 women died at the hands of an
intimate; 8,997 men died in domestic violence during the same time
period.[13] Because the U.S.
Department of Justice does not catalogue the victim's or murderer's age,
religion, ethnic background, or immigration status, it is not possible to
know what proportion of these killings are honor-related.
Unni Wikan, a social anthropologist and professor at the
University of Oslo, defines honor killing as "a murder carried out as a
commission from the extended family, to restore honor after the family has
been dishonored. As a rule, the basic cause is a rumor that any female
family member has behaved in an immoral way."[14] While honor killings are just a minority of total domestic violence in the United States and Canada, they constitute a
distinct phenomenon. (See Table 1.) A 2008
Massachusetts-based study found that "although immigrants make up an
estimated 14 percent of the state's population, [they, nevertheless,]
accounted for 26 percent of the 180 domestic violence deaths from
1997-2006."[15]
Lenore Walker, author of The Battered Woman
Syndrome,[16] agreed that
fundamentalist immigrants control and patrol their women very closely.
"Given the strict rules, there are a lot of things to kill them for," she
said. Walker confirmed the difference between the victim-perpetrator in
honor killings and ordinary domestic violence:
In ordinary domestic violence involving Westerners, it is rare for
brothers to kill sisters or for male cousins to kill female cousins. And
while child abuse occurs in which fathers may kill infants and children,
it is very rare for Western fathers to kill teenage daughters.[17]
Other discrepancies exist. Walker observed that Western men
are more apt to kill little boys than girls in their family. "Women with
postpartum depression kill their babies, and men may kill babies by shaken
baby syndrome," she explained. She did not "know of any batterers who are
helped to commit the murders by their brothers or cousins or other family
members. Occasionally, the man's relatives may be in the house when the
murder goes down, but that is quite rare in my experience."[18]
The press has reported a number of honor killings in the
United States, Canada, and Europe. These cases show the killings to be
primarily a Muslim-on-Muslim crime. (See Table 2 and
Table 3.) The victims are largely teenage daughters
or young women. Wives are victims but to a lesser extent. And, unlike most
Western domestic violence, honor killings are carefully planned. The
perpetrator's family may warn the victim repeatedly over a period of years
that she will be killed if she dishonors her family by refusing to veil,
rebuffing an arranged marriage, or becoming too Westernized. Most
important, only honor killings involve multiple family members. Fathers,
mothers, brothers, male cousins, uncles, and sometimes even grandfathers
commit the murder, but mothers and sisters may lobby for the killing. Some
mothers collaborate in the murder in a hands-on way and may assist in the
getaway. In some cases, taxi drivers, neighbors, and mosque members
prevent the targeted woman from fleeing, report her whereabouts to her
family, and subsequently conspire to thwart police investigations.[19] Very old relatives or minors may be
chosen to conduct the murder in order to limit jail time if caught.
Seldom is domestic violence celebrated, even by its
perpetrators. In the West, wife batterers are ostracized. Here, there is
an important difference in honor crimes. Muslims who commit or assist in
the commission of honor killings view these killings as heroic and even
view the murder as the fulfillment of a religious obligation. A Turkish
study of prisoners found no social stigma attached to honor murderers.[20] While advocacy organizations such
as CAIR denounce any link between honor killings and Islam, many sheikhs
still preach that disobedient women should be punished. Few sheikhs
condemn honor killings as anti-Islamic. Honor killings are not
stigmatized.
Table 1: Differing Characteristics of Honor Killings and
Domestic Violence
| Honor Killings | Domestic Violence |
| Committed mainly by Muslims against Muslim girls/young adult women. | Committed by men of all faiths usually against adult women. |
| Committed mainly by fathers against their teenage daughters and daughters in their early twenties. Wives and older-age daughters may also be victims, but to a lesser extent. | Committed by an adult male spouse against an adult female spouse or intimate partner. |
| Carefully planned. Death threats are often used as a means of control. | The murder is often unplanned and spontaneous. |
| The planning and execution involve multiple family members and can include mothers, sisters, brothers, male cousins, uncles, grandfathers, etc. If the girl escapes, the extended family will continue to search for her to kill her. | The murder is carried out by one man with no family complicity. |
| The reason given for the honor killing is that the girl or young woman has "dishonored" the family. | The batterer-murderer does not claim any family concept of "honor." The reasons may range from a poorly cooked meal to suspected infidelity to the woman's trying to protect the children from his abuse or turning to the authorities for help. |
| At least half the time, the killings are carried out with barbaric ferocity. The female victim is often raped, burned alive, stoned or beaten to death, cut at the throat, decapitated, stabbed numerous times, suffocated slowly, etc. | While some men do beat a spouse to death, they often simply shoot or stab them. |
| The extended family and community valorize the honor killing. They do not condemn the perpetrators in the name of Islam. Mainly, honor killings are seen as normative. | The batterer-murderer is seen as a criminal; no one defends him as a hero. Such men are often viewed as sociopaths, mentally ill, or evil. |
| The murderer(s) do not show remorse. Instead, they experience themselves as "victims," defending themselves from the girl's actions and trying to restore their lost family honor. | Sometimes, remorse or regret is exhibited. |
Table 2: North American Honor Killings, Successful and
Attempted
| Victim Name (age) | Year, Location | Perpetrators' Name, Origin | Motive | Method |
| Palestina Isa (16) | 1989 St. Louis, MO | Maria & Zein Isa, parents, sisters also encouraged it / West Bank. (M) | "Too American," refused to travel with her father, a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group, as "cover." | Stabbed 13 times by father as her mother held her down. |
| Methal Dayem (22) | 1999 Cleveland, OH | Yezen Dayem, Musa Saleh, cousins / West Bank. (M) | Refused to marry her cousin; attended college; sought independent career as elementary school teacher; drove her own car; too independent; turned back on her culture. | Two cousins allegedly shot her, choked on own blood. |
| Lubaina Bhatti Ahmed (39) | 1999 St. Clairsville, OH | Nawaz Ahmed, estranged husband / Pakistan (M) | Filed for divorce. | Throat cut; her father, sister and sister's young child's throat also cut. |
| Farah Khan (5) | 1999 Toronto, Canada | Muhammed Khan, father, and Kaneez Fatma, stepmother / unknown region. (M) | Suspected child was not his biologically. | Father and step-mother cut her throat, dismembered her body. |
| Jawinder "Jassi" Kaur (25) | 2000 Pakistan | Gang of men hired by Malkiat Kaur, mother, and Surjit Sing Badesha, uncle / Canada/Pakistan (S) | Against her wealthy, farming parents' wishes, married a man who was of inferior financial status, a Pakistani rickshaw driver. | Kidnapped, throat slashed |
| Shahpara Sayeed (33) | 2000 Chicago, IL | Mohammad Harroon, husband / Pakistan (M) | Motive is unclear. But they had been fighting for months. | Burned alive |
| Marlyn Hassan (29) | 2002 Jersey City, NJ | Alim Hassan, husband / Guyana (Hindu wife) (M) | His wife refused to convert from Hinduism to Islam. | Husband, an auto mechanic, stabbed wife (and the twins in her womb), the wife's sister, and the wife's mother. |
| Amandeep Singh Atwal (17) | 2003 British Columbia, Canada | Rajinder Singh Atwal, father / East Indies (S) | Wanted daughter to end relationship with non-Sikh classmate, Todd McIsaac | Father stabbed daughter 11 times. |
| Hatice Peltek (39) | 2004 Scottsville, NY | Ismail Peltek, husband / Turkey (M) | Had been molested by brother-in-law | Stabbed, bludgeoned with hammer along with daughters. |
| Aqsa Parvez (16) | 2007 Toronto, Canada | Muhammad Parvez. father, Waqas Parvez, brother (M) / unknown region | Refusing to wear hijab. | Strangled |
| Amina Said (17) | 2008 Irving, TX | Yaser Said, father; mother assisted / Egypt (M) | Upset by her "Western" ways. | Shot |
| Sarah Said (18) | 2008 Irving, TX | Yaser Said, father; mother assisted / Egypt (M) | Upset by her "Western" ways | Shot |
| Fauzia Mohammed (19) | 2008 Henriettta, NY | Goaded by mother, Waheed Allah Mohammed, brother / Afghanistan (M) | Too "Western," immodest clothing, planned to attend college in New York City | Stabbed |
| Sandeela Kanwal (25) | 2008 Atlanta, GA | Chaudry Rashid, father / Pakistan (M) | Filed for divorce after arranged marriage | Strangled |
Legend: M = Muslim; S=Sikh
In these cases, the average age of the victims was 21.5, and
10 of the 14 were daughters. Importantly, more than half the cases
involved multiple perpetrators. Nor is there a significant difference
between honor killings in North America and Europe. Neither the average
age (20) nor the percentage of daughters as victims in the European cases
is significantly different from those in the North American cases. (See
Table 3.)
Table 3: European Honor Killings
| Victim Name | Year, Location | Perpetrators' Name, Origin | Motive | Method |
| Surjit Athwal (27) | 1998 lured to India from England | Bachan Athwal, grandmother-in-law, her son and another relative / India (S) | Having an affair, planning to divorce. | Lured to India for 'family wedding' and strangled. |
| Rukhsana Naz (19) | 1999 England | Brother and mother / Pakistan (M) | Refused arranged marriage; pregnant with boyfriend's baby. | Strangled by brother while held down by mother |
| Fadime Sahindal (32) | 2002 Sweden | Father and brother / Kurds from Turkey (M) | Rejected arranged marriage; dated non-Muslim; sought higher education; sought legal remedy against father and brother. | Shot |
| Heshu Yones (16) | 2002 England | Abdalla Yones, father / Iraq (M) | Dating a Christian; too Western. | Stabbed, throat cut |
| Sohane Benziane (17) | 2002 France | Jamal Derrar, ex-boyfriend and schoolmates / Algeria (M) | Too Western | Raped, tortured, and burned alive |
| Anooshe Sediq Ghulam (22) | 2002 Norway | Nasruddin Shamsi, husband / Afghanistan (M) | Failure to listen to her husband, divorce. | Shot |
| Maja Bradaric (16) | 2003 The Netherlands | Nephew and 3 others / Bosnia (M) | Using Internet to find a boyfriend | Burned to death |
| Sahjda Bibi (21) | 2003 England | Rafaqat Hussain, cousin / Pakistan (M) | Refused arranged marriage | Stabbed 22 times |
| Anita Gindha (22) | 2003 Scotland | Relative suspected / Pakistan (S) | Married non-Sikh. | Strangled |
| Shafilea Ahmed (16) | 2003 England | Parents suspected / Pakistan (M) | Opposed her parents' plans for an arranged marriage | Strangled or smothered |
| "Gul" (32) | 2004 The Netherlands | Husband/Afghanistan (M) | Sought divorce | Shot |
| Hatin Surucu (23) | 2005 Germany | Three brothers / Turkey (M) | Fled forced marriage; did not wear scarf. | Shot |
| Rudina Qinami (16) | 2005 Albania | Father / Albania (M) | Accepted ride by male, non-relative. | Shot |
| Banaz Mahmod (20) | 2006 England | Mahmod Mahmod, father, her uncle Ari Mahmod / Kurds from Iraq (M) | Having an "affair". | Raped, strangled |
| Samaira Nazir (25) | 2006 England | Azhar Nazir, brother and cousin / Pakistan (M) | Fell in love with Afghan refugee; refused to consider arranged marriage in Pakistan | Stabbing, throat cut |
| Sazan Bajez-Abdullah (24) | 2006 Germany | Kazim Mahmud, husband / Iraq (M) | Acting in an "immodest "way. | Stabbed, set on fire |
| Sabia Rani (19) | 2006 England | Shazad Khan, husband and in-laws / Pakistan (M) | Wanted divorce | Beaten |
| Ghazala Khan (18) | 2006 Denmark | Brother, father and other family members / Pakistan (M) | Family did not approve of husband | Shot |
| Caneze Riaz (39) | 2006 England | Mohammed Riaz, husband / Pakistan (M) | Too westernized | Immolated |
| Sayrah Riaz (16) | 2006 England | Mohammed Riaz, father / Pakistan (M) | Too westernized | Immolated |
| Sophia Riaz (15) | 2006 England | Mohammed Riaz, father / Pakistan (M) | Too westernized | Immolated |
| Alicia Riaz (10) | 2006 England | Mohammed Riaz, father / Pakistan (M) | Too westernized | Immolated |
| Hannah Riaz (3) | 2006 England | Mohammed Riaz, father / Pakistan (M) | Too westernized | Immolated |
| Hina Saleem (21) | 2006 Italy | Father and brother-in-law / Pakistan (M) | Did not respect Pakistani culture, divorced, wore clothing that showed her midriff | Stabbed |
| Sana Ali (17) | 2007 England | Husband / Pakistan (M) | Not known, but detectives consider honor motive | Stabbed |
| Morsal Obeidi (16) | 2008 Germany | Ahmad Obeidi, brother, and cousin / Afghanistan (M) | Wanted too much freedom; did not appreciate Muslim values | Stabbed |
Legend: M = Muslim; S=Sikh
In both North America and Europe, family members conducted
honor killings with excessive violence—repeatedly stabbing, raping,
setting aflame, and bludgeoning—in more than half the cases. Only in
serial-killing-type scenarios are Western women targeted with similar
violence; in these cases, the perpetrators are seldom family members, and
their victims are often strangers. Despite the obfuscation of Muslim
advocacy groups, these case studies show that honor killings are quite
distinct from domestic violence. Not all honor killings are perpetrated by
Muslims, but the overwhelming majority are. Ninety percent of the honor
killers shown in Tables 2 and 3 were Muslim. In every case, perpetrators view their
victims as violating rules of religious conduct and act without
remorse.
While the sample size is small, this study suggests that
honor killing is accelerating in North America and may correlate with the
numbers of first generation immigrants. The problem is diverse but
originates with immigration from majority Muslim countries and regions—the
Palestinian territories, the Kurdish regions of Turkey and Iraq, majority
Muslim countries in the Balkans, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Afghanistan.
Pakistanis accounts for the plurality. The common denominator in each case
is not culture but religion.
Conflict of Cultural Moralities
The problem the West faces is complex. Muslims, Sikhs, and
Hindus view honor and morality as a collective family matter. Rights are
collective, not individual. Family, clan, and tribal rights supplant
individual human rights.[21]
In these groups, intellectuals and elites handicap the
absorption of immigrants arriving from countries where honor is a communal
virtue. For example, accusations of Islamophobia stymie discussion and
policy formulation when policymakers seek to address problems occurring
among Muslim immigrants. Still, there are legal interventions underway in
Europe, home to between twenty and thirty million Muslim immigrants and
their descendents, as opposed to perhaps four million in the United States
and Canada.[22] Honor-related
violence is, therefore, more visible in Europe than in North America. In
2004, Sweden held an international conference on honor killing, calling
for "international cooperation" on the issue. Conference participants
concluded:
Violence in the name of honor must be combated as an obstacle to
women's enjoyment of human rights. Interpretations of honor as strongly
connected with female chastity must be challenged. It can never be
accepted that customs, traditions, or religious considerations are
invoked to avoid obligations to eradicate violence against women and
girls, including violence in the name of honor. Violence against women
must be addressed from a rights-based perspective. … Measures should be
taken in the areas of legislation, employment, education, and sexual and
reproductive health and rights. Respect for women's enjoyment of human
rights is intrinsically linked to democracy. International conventions
must be incorporated into national legislation.[23]
There have since been local conferences in England, France,
and Germany. British law enforcement has begun to hide women in a program
equivalent to the U.S. Federal witness protection program.[24] Great Britain has passed
legislation to empower police to rescue British female citizens whose
families have kidnapped and forcibly married them against their will,
usually in Pakistan; the police will return them to Britain if the brides
request it. There is a special police unit that deals with the forced,
arranged marriages of children.[25] A
new movement has also arisen in England, "One Law for All. A Campaign
against Shari'a Law in Britain," launched by Maryam Namazie, an advocate
opposed to honor killing and other honor-related violence. She has
launched this movement to oppose the use of Shari'a courts because they
discriminate against women.[26]
Additionally, schools in the Netherlands have been asked to be "more alert
to honor violence,"[27] following
research conducted for the Ministry of Integration.
U.S. law enforcement has made tremendous progress over the
last forty years on issues related to violence against women. However,
there are not yet any shelters for battered Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh girls
or women who fear that they will be murdered for honor. A regular shelter
for battered women does not specialize in honor killings, nor are there
any provisions for foster families—Muslim or otherwise—who can protect
girls targeted for murder by their biological families. Critics would
oppose any such intervention, however, as a form of cultural oppression,
for many victims may have to forfeit their identities in order to remain
alive.
It will be more difficult to save adult Muslim women from
honor killing because an adult immigrant may not have any regular contact
with people outside her immediate family. Only if she survives injuries
that require medical attention will she have contact with strangers who
may try to help her rescue herself.
Religious education may also be necessary. According to this
study, 90 percent of honor murders in the West are committed by Muslims
against Muslims. The perpetrators may interpret the Qur'an and Islam
incorrectly, either for malicious reasons or simply because they are
ignorant of more tolerant Muslim exegesis or conflate local customs with
religion.
Here, Muslim-American and Muslim-Canadian associations might
play a role so long as they cease obfuscation and recognize the religious
roots of the problem. Now is the time for sheikhs in the United States and
Canada to state without qualification that killing daughters, sisters,
wives, and cousins is against Islam. A number of feminist lawyers who work
with battered women have credited pro-women sheikhs with helping them
enormously. Sheikhs should publicly identify, condemn, and shame honor
killers. Those sheikhs who resist doing so should be challenged.
As with issues relating to terrorism, law enforcement and
civil servants must be mindful of which Muslim community activists they
seek to engage. Many self-described civil rights organizations—CAIR or the
Islamic Society of North America, for example—lean towards more radical
interpretations of Islam. Groups such as the American Islamic Congress and
the American Islamic Forum for Democracy advocate for gender equality and
human rights, [28] but because their
efforts against radicalism antagonize Saudi Arabia and other sources of
funding, they often lack resources. Given alternative funding, they might
be willing to assist in an effort to educate Muslims against honor
murder.
U.S. and Canadian immigration authorities should also be
aware of the issue. They should inform potential Muslim immigrants and new
Muslim citizens that it is against the law to beat girls and women, that
honor killings are crimes, and that both the murderers and their
accomplices can and will be charged. Cultural equivalency will provide no
excuse as it sometimes does in more permissive societies such as Great
Britain and the Netherlands. As long as Islamist advocacy groups continue
to obfuscate the problem, and government and police officials accept their
inaccurate versions of reality, women will continue to be killed for honor
in the West; such murders may even accelerate. Unchecked by Western law,
their blood will be on society's hands.
Phyllis Chesler is emerita professor of psychology and women's
studies at the Richmond College of the City University of New York and
co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology and the National
Women's Health Network.
[1] Citation for honor murders drawn from Ellen Francis
Harris, Guarding the Secret: Palestinian Terrorism and a Father's
Murder of his Too-American Daughter (New York: Scribner, 1995); James
Brandon and Salam Hafez, Crimes of the Community: Honor-Based Violence
in the U.K. (London: The Centre for Social Cohesion, Jan. 2008), p.
13, 44; The Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 22, 26, 2000;
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 13, 1999; CBC News, Apr. 22,
2004, Mar. 1, 2005; The Indian Express (New Delhi), Jan. 30,
2005; The Asian Pacific Post (Vancouver, B.C.), July 24, 2003;
Soundvision.com, Sound
Vision Foundation, Bridgeview, Ill., May 6, 2002; The New York Daily
News, July 31, 2002; Stabroek News (Georgetown, Guyana), Dec. 3,
2003; Canwest News Service (Don Mills, Ont.), July 8, 2008; The
Rochester Chronicle and Democrat, Apr. 25, 2004, July 17, 2008; The
Washington Times, Jan. 3, 2008; The Dallas Morning News, Jan.
6, 9, 2008; The Chicago Tribune, July 8, 2008; CNN, July 7, 2008;
The Daily Mail (London), May 2, June 12, 2007, Jan. 8, 2008; The
Observer (London), Oct. 8, 2000, Nov. 21, 2004, June 20, 2006; The
Daily Telegraph (London), Jan. 28, 2002, Feb. 27, 2005;
CNN.com, Oct. 2, 2003; BBC News, Sept. 30, 2003, May 4, Nov.
19, 2004, Apr. 8, 2006, Jan. 8, 2008; TechCentralStation (TCS
Daily), Feb. 2, 2005; Time (European ed.), Oct. 11, 2004;
CULCOM: Cultural Complexity in the New Norway, Feb. 17, 2006;
Expatica (Amsterdam), Dec. 1, 2003, Apr. 27, 2005; The Times
(London), Nov. 18, Dec. 4, 2004, Jan. 21, 2007, Feb. 3, Mar. 29, 2008;
HiA Report, Humanity in Action Foundation, Washington, D.C., June
29, 2006; Deutsche Welle Radio (Bonn), May 1, 2005; The
Guardian (London), May 8, 2003, July 15, 2006, May 24, 2008;
Stern Magazine (Hamburg), Oct. 4, 2007; Associated Press, June 27,
2006; The Independent (London), May 7, 2003, Feb. 21, 2007; The
New York Times, Dec. 19, 2004, Dec. 4, 2005, Aug. 26, 2006; The
Evening Standard (London), May 14, 2007; United Press
International, July 3, 2003; The Sun (London), Jan. 23, 2008;
FOX News, Jan. 5, 2007; International Herald Tribune
(Paris), Dec. 1, 2005; The Daily Times (Lahore), July 3, 2004.
[2] "Chapter 3: Ending Violence against Women and Girls: 'Honor'
Killings," The State of World Population, 2000, United Nations
Population Fund.
[3]
IslamOnline.net, Jan. 11, 2007.
[4] The Daily Times, Sept.
20, 2008.
[5] Brandon and Hafez,
Crimes of the Community, pp. 143-6.
[6] Yotam Feldner, "'Honor' Murders—Why the Perps
Get off Easy," Middle East Quarterly, Dec. 2000, pp. 41-50.
[7] Ibid.
[8] SoundVision.com, Aug.
24, 2000.
[9] Sheila Musaji,
"The Death
of Aqsa Parvez Should Be an Interfaith Call to Action," The
American Muslim, Dec. 14, 2007.
[10] Fox News.com, Dec. 12,
2007.
[11] CNN.com, July 9,
2008.
[12] FoxNews.com,
Oct. 14,
2008.
[13] "Homicide Trends in
the U.S.: Intimate
Homicide, 1976 -2005," U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice
Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, July 11, 2007, accessed Oct. 2,
2008.
[14] Unni Wikan, "The Honor
Culture," Karl-Olov Arnstberg and Phil Holmes, trans., accessed Sept.
23, 2008, originally published as En Fraga Om Hedre (A question of
honor), Cajsa Mitchell, trans. (Stockholm: Ordfront Forlag AB, 2005),
accessed Dec. 12, 2008.
[15]
The Boston Globe, Sept.
12, 2008.
[16] New York:
Springer, 1984.
[17] Author e-mail
interview with Lenore Walker, Sept. 27, 2008.
[18] Ibid.
[19]
Brandon and Hafez, Crimes of the Community, p. 94.
[20] Today's Zaman, July
12, 2008.
[21] Wikan, "The Honor
Culture."
[22] Daniel Pipes,
"Which Has More Islamist
Terrorism, Europe or America?" The Jerusalem Post, July 3,
2008.
[23] "Combating Patriarchal
Violence against Women—Focusing on Violence in the Name of Honor," The
Swedish Ministry of Justice and The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Stockholm, Dec. 7-8, 2004, p. 51.
[24] International Herald Tribune, Hong Kong ed.,
Oct.
20, 1997; The Observer, Nov.
21, 2004; "So-called
Honor Crimes," Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men,
Council of Europe, Paris and Brussels, Mar. 7, 2003.
[25] Brandon and Hafez, Crimes of the
Community, pp. 13, 44.
[26]
Author e-mail with Maryam Namazie, Dec. 1, 2008.
[27] Nederlands Dagblad (Barneveld), Nov.
19, 2008; Islam in Europe, Nov.
19, 2008.
[28] "Milestones,"
American Islamic Congress website, accessed Dec. 10, 2008; "Founding
Principles and Resolutions," American Islamic Forum for Democracy
website, accessed Dec. 10, 2008.
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