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Male killers often act on matters of 'honour'
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Date Posted on this Site
October 3, 2006
Publication
Ottawa Citizen
Publication Date
September 23, 2006
Published Content
Doug Fischer
The number of murders and suicides that are actually so-called honour killings might be much higher in Canada than police statistics suggest, some experts say.
That's because domestic homicides and suicides are sometimes honour killings by another name, they say -- cases in which women suspected of cheating on their partners, or violating rigid religious codes, are slain by their husbands, brothers, cousins or fathers for shaming the family. In some cases, women are forced by family members to kill themselves.
"There are definitely more cases of these kinds of crimes in Canada than we know about," said Shahrzad Mojab, a Toronto professor and author who has researched honour killings around the world.
"And I'm sure it is a growing problem here, as it is in Europe."
The issue has been linked to the killing of Khatera Sadiqi, who was gunned down Tuesday as she sat in a car with her fiance, Feroz Mangal, in a shopping centre parking lot. Mr. Mangal was seriously wounded.
Ms. Sadiqi's brother, Hasibullah, is the main suspect. Police say they believe Mr. Sadiqi was unhappy his sister had moved in with her fiance and his family before marrying.
Experts say acts that might seem harmless in mainstream western society can trigger honour killings in countries and communities where strict interpretations of Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Christian tenets are in place.
"Not only is innocent behaviour enough to motivate such action, it is more than enough," said Ms. Mojab, director of the Women and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto and co-author of Violence in the Name of Honour, a 2004 book on honour killings. She cited a recent case in Turkey of a teenager whose father slit her throat after two friends called a radio station and requested they play a love song she favoured.
"The song was simply dedicated to the girl, an act her father thought brought shame to the family," Ms. Mojab said. "It's a crime almost too horrific to believe."
There are dozens of cases in which women have been killed for wearing western clothing, like blue jeans, or simply giving directions to strange men at a street corner.
Officially, there appears to be only about a half-dozen honour killings on record in Canada during the past 40 years, two involving Sikh families in British Columbia in the past three years. Rajinder Atwal was convicted of murder last year for brutally stabbing his 17-year-old daughter, Amandeep, after he discovered she'd been involved in an inter-racial relationship she kept secret for two years.
Although the murder was an extreme expression of the need to preserve Mr. Atwal's idea of the virtue of his family, the impulse to prohibit marriage to religious or ethnic outsiders is not uncommon among some immigrant communities in North America and Europe.
And as these practices are brought to the West by increased immigration from parts of the world where ultra-conservative traditions are more prevalent, Canadians can expect to see a rise in deaths related to matters of honour, Ms. Mojab says.
Jayant Lele, a Queen's University professor who has studied the clash between religious traditions and modern society, worries honour crimes are too easily depicted as an extension of Islam -- or any religion. He says it's more a cultural phenomenon that grows from a narrow view of traditional values.
"These attempts to revive traditions, without understanding how traditions have to change and adapt, can lead to unfortunate behaviour, whether we're talking about Islam, Christianity or Hinduism."
Brad Adams, who monitors honour crimes for Human Rights Watch, agreed such killings are not limited to any one region of the world, or any particular religion. "We've worked on this issue in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and the Americas ... and we've seen honour crimes invoked in the name of any number of religions."
He agreed they are not always easy to identify, especially when hidden among general domestic violence statistics, or disguised as suicides in cases where women are "hounded to death" and their intimidators go unpunished.
"Involuntary suicide" appears to be a "growing strategy of choice" as more countries -- most recently Turkey -- pass laws outlawing honour killings, Ms. Mojab said. "Sometimes these suicides are voluntary -- women just can't face the threats or begin to believe they have brought shame to their family.
"But many others are pushed to do it so there is no trace of a murder. In one horrible case, a family got together and made a young woman drink poison. Then they told authorities it was a suicide."
In Britain, such stories have prompted Scotland Yard to reopen the files on more than 120 deaths originally attributed to domestic violence, to see whether the killings have religious or cultural links.
Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, hopes honour killings are not on the rise in Canada, but is concerned about the number of forced marriages in traditional Muslim families. "We're seeing quite a few cases of girls being sent, against their will, to their families' homeland for marriages that the families hope will set them on a straighter path."
The UN reported that in 2001, two-thirds of all murders in the Gaza Strip and West Bank were likely honour killings. In India, the UN estimates more than 5,000 women are killed every year because their in-laws consider their dowries inadequate.
"Until there is enough outcry from citizens to force governments to crack down on these heinous crimes, the tragedy will go on," a Human Rights Watch report said last year.
My Response Letter
No one doubts that honour killings occur and that they are tragedies. But where is the evidence that Christians are doing this? Your assertion that experts say harmless acts "can trigger honour killings in countries and communities where strict interpretations of Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Christian tenets are in place" seems to be unfounded. Are there countries or communities where strict interpretations of Christianity are in place? When was the last time there was a media report about a Christian honour killing? Not one of the examples in the article deals with Christians. Without evidence to the contrary, this appears to be political correctness run amok.
Jason Gennaro
Was my response published?
No
Did I get a response?
No