More Honor Killings in the U.K.

Last Sunday, the New York Times took a long hard look at Muslim "honor killings" in Germany. Now, thanks to Reuters, we learn that this type of gruesome violence against girls and women is on the rise in England, too.

Rukhsana Naz [pictured] was 19 when her mother pinned her to the floor of their family house and her brother strangled her with a length of plastic cable. Sahjda Bibi, 21, was preparing to celebrate her wedding when her cousin stabbed her 22 times with a kitchen knife. The father of 16-year-old Heshu Yones slit her throat because he disapproved of her Western habits and non-Muslim boyfriend. All were victims of "honor killings," murdered by relatives who believed they had brought shame on their families through their behavior or choice of boyfriend, husband or lover. ... Girls and young women have been killed, abducted, physically abused and held prisoner in their own homes. Police believe scores have been taken out of the country, often to the Indian subcontinent, and have disappeared.

Nazir Afzal, director of Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in west London where there is a large south Asian community, says there have been at least a dozen honor killings in the country in the past year. "And murder is just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There are other crimes, like rape, abduction and physical violence, which we would consider steps on the stairway to murder." ...

Reunite, a charity which campaigns to stop child abduction, estimates that around 1,000 British Asian girls are forced into marriage each year [some brides rebel, prompting the honor killing, RvB]. Between a third and a half are minors. ...

London's police [have] set up a task force to tackle the issue and it is re-examining over 100 unsolved murder cases to see if they may have been honor crimes, even though they were not recognized as such at the time.

I'm not just playing semantics when I say there's something absurd about the term 'honor killing.' There's not a single atom of honor in the horrific murder of underage girls and young women. And to be slaughtered by one's own family! That only doubles the already unimaginable cruelty of the practice.

Although the press attention is most welcome, the situation is bound to get worse before it gets better:

"I've certainly seen more cases of honor crime since July 7 [the day of the London subway bombings]," said Afzal. "When communities perceive themselves to be under threat they tend to turn in on themselves, regardless of whether that perception has any basis in fact. They try to restore and reinforce their own social norms. They put pressure on their own members to conform, and if they don't conform there is sometimes some kind of retribution."

Next time you hear a blanket statement about Islam being a "religion of peace," remember Rukhsana Naz, Heshu Yones, and thousands of other young women who were unceremoniously butchered like worthless pigs — utterly abandoned by friends, neighbors, and relatives who, even after the fact, preferred looking the other way to turning in the callous murderers.

[hat tip: Louis]

Comments

[Martin Owens]

Careful, Rogier!
If you in turn are accused of insulting Islam,
no one will protect you, either.

So much for justice and the rule of law under the welfare state.

[Baylen]

I should note Islam is no more or less peaceful than other religions. They're all equally evil in my opinion. There's just a prevalence of Muslim nut jobs inhabiting the planet these days.