“Honour killing is murder. This is a barbaric act.” [6]
That was said by a man by the name of Khalil Aswad. His 17 year old daughter Du’a Khalil Aswad was stoned to death in a mob of 2000+ people and some of those in the audience were police officials who did nothing. And what was her crime to deserve this animalistic treatment. She had fallen in love with a Muslim boy outside her Yazidi tribe.
Du’a was stripped to her undergarments and slowly stoned to death while onlookers cheered on the killers and recorded the actions on their cellphones. Du’a died slowly, the stoning lasted almost 30 minutes. In this horrific video Du’a is screaming and crying for help but there is none for her because in the eyes of her tribe she had dishonoured them all.
After her death she was buried with a dog to show that they thought she was worthless in their eyes. Her body was later exhumed for examination to see if she was a virgin. Even though it was proven that she was, it did nothing to redeem her in their eyes and her murderers went unprosecuted. Her family lives now as outcasts in their tribe.
“My daughter did nothing wrong,” Aswad said, “She fell in love with a Muslim and there is nothing wrong with that. I couldn’t protect her because I got threats from my brother, the whole tribe. They insisted they were gonna kill us all, not only Du’a, if she was not killed. She was mutilated, her body dumped like rubbish.” [6]
“To do this to their own flesh and blood was unforgivable. Forgiveness isn’t even a question. They don’t deserve to be on this Earth.” [10]
“How can someone think that kind of thing and actually do it to your own flesh and blood? It’s disgusting.” [11]
Bekhal Mahmod said those in an interview after the death of her sister Banaz. Banaz was raped, beaten, and then strangled to death by men hired by her father and uncle. Both her father Mahmod Mahmod , and her uncle, Ari Mahmod, were convicted of murder in the United Kingdom.
Banaz’s crime was simple. She had left an abusive arranged marriage and had fallen in love with someone her family did not approve of. Her family had even threatened to kill her boyfriend if they stayed together.
Banaz Mahmod disappeared on Jan 24, 2006 and her body was found buried in a suitcase in Handsworth, Birmingham three months later. The shoelace that had been used to strangle her was still around her neck.
Bekhal lives in hiding, afraid of her own family because she too had left an arranged marriage. Like her sister, in the eyes of her family she has caused great shame to the family. She will not even go outside unless she wears a full veil showing only her eyes. This is the price she has to pay to live.
“If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her.” [13]
Abdel-Qader Ali, 46, killed his 17 year old daughter on March 16, 2008 and those were his words. Rand Abdel-Qadar was stomped on by her father, strangled and then finally stabbed to death. Her mother, Leila Hussein, called in Rand’s brothers to try to help her but instead they joined and helped their father to kill her. Rand’s body was then throw into a unmarked grave without a ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.
“I don’t have a daughter now, and I prefer to say that I never had one. That girl humiliated me in front of my family and friends. Speaking with a foreign solider, she lost what is the most precious thing for any woman. ‘People from western countries might be shocked, but our girls are not like their daughters that can sleep with any man they want and sometimes even get pregnant without marrying. Our girls should respect their religion, their family and their bodies.” [13]
“I have only two boys from now on. That girl was a mistake in my life. I know God is blessing me for what I did,’ he said, his voice swelling with pride. ‘My sons are by my side, and they were men enough to help me finish the life of someone who just brought shame to ours.” [13].
Those were his words to try to justify the horrible murder of his own daughter. And the thing that makes it worse is that he was released 2 hours after by the police. The police even congratulated him on killing her. All this because she was seen talking to a Christian British soldier in public.
Rand believed she was in love with him, and due to that she brought shame to her family’s name. Her mother watched the whole murder in horror and had the guts to leave her husband, and he beat her and broke her arm when she announced she was going.
But even Leila wasn’t able to get away. On May 17 she was gunned down just as she was about to leave to meet a person who could get her out of her country. It was an unhappy ending in this tragedy.
Honour killings are defined as generally a punitive murder, committed by members of a family against a female member of their family whom the family and/or wider community believes to have brought dishonor upon the family. [18] and more often than not a women is the victim of these honour killings. Honour killings “go across cultures and across religions.” [2]
What I have mentioned above are three examples of these killings, but there are many many more. Thousands of women are murdered each year in the name of honour for their families. The range of offensives can range from a mere allegation of infidelity, pre marital sex, flirting, or even failing to serve a meal on time. There was a case where a woman was killed by her husband because she had a dream she had betrayed him. [2]
The men who commit these murders are usually the teenage brothers of the girls because if there is legal action, they would get lighter sentences. [2] Although this is not to say that only teenage girls are the victims of these honour killings. Victims can range from pre-pubescent girls to grandmothers.
It does not matter if the women are innocent or not of the things they are accused of and killed for. The allegation alone is enough to defile a man’s honour and therefore enough to justify the killing of the women. [5] Even rape victims are often killed because they have dishonoured their families or tribes. An innocent victim of brutality at a man’s hand killed for not being able to fight back.
And are the men ever held responsible for the actions they commit. If a woman has an affair she is killed but more often than not, the man she had cheated with escape. In most countries those who commit honour killings are not punished for their acts, though now some countries such as Turkey are making honour killings illegal. Although in the wake of that there is a rise of honour suicides, when the family convinces the girl she should kill herself. [15]
People need to realize that honour killings are pathetic excuses for men to brutalize and murder women. Men are just that…men. They are not Gods and they should have no right to take the life of another person, especially a member of their own family. They may be able to get away with this in this life but they will get retribution in the next. If there is a God, there is no way he would condone the murders of innocent women.
We as a society need to move towards a change. Men and women both have the right to life and they should both have the right to live the way they want to. Men are not better than women and neither are women any better than men. We are equals and should be treated as such.
Animalistic treatment such as honour killings would not exist if people were allowed to live the way they want to. There is happiness to be found in freedom of one’s own choices and everyone should have the chance to experience that.

‘Freedom of expression for some is not enough.
We must work for freedom of expression for all.
Human rights for some is not  enough.
We must work for the human rights for all.
Peace  for some is not  enough.
We must work for peace for all.
I, come what may, will not be silenced.
Come what may, I will continue my fight for equality and justice without any compromise until my death.
Come what  may, I will never be silenced.’ “Taslima Nasreen”!
References.

1. [1]

2. [2]
3. [3]
4. [4]
5. [5]

7. [7]
8. [8]
9. [9]
10. [10]
11. [11]
12. [12]
13. [13]
14. [14]
15. [15]
16. [16]
17. [17]
18. [18]