The Best & Worst Human Rights Developments of 2012 -By Mary McGuire | Freedom House

Today is the first day of the new year, 1 January 2013. Before embarking on the new year, I wanted to share a list compiled by Freedom House that reflects back on some of last year’s human rights developments. How did the world do following an eventful 2011?

Unfortunately, the bad seemed to outweigh the good this year, as many authoritarians held on to power and continued upheaval in the Middle East threatened to derail any democratic progress. Internal conflicts in a number of African countries boiled over, and the bulk of the former Soviet Union appeared to be moving in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, widely hailed political achievements in countries like Burma, Egypt and Georgia were complicated by negative twists.

Ongoing ethnic conflicts in Burma have undercut a recent democratic opening that was significant enough to allow the first visit by a U.S. president. Relatively free and competitive elections in Egypt have been overshadowed by continued unrest and authoritarian maneuvers by President Mohamed Morsi. In Georgia, what was considered a historic democratic transfer of power has been potentially jeopardized by what some regard as politically motivated prosecutions of former ruling party officials.

Though this list is far from exhaustive, the following were some of the best and worst human rights developments in 2012.

BEST 

LGBTI Victories in the Western Hemisphere:

There were several important victories in the battle for LGBTI rights in 2012, particularly in the United States and Latin America. A U.S. president voiced public support for gay marriage for the first time, and three states — Washington, Maryland and Maine — passed laws allowing same-sex marriage, bringing the total number of states with such rules to nine. In addition, the first openly gay woman was elected to the U.S. Senate. In Argentina, where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2010, the Senate passed legislation that allows gender to be legally changed without medical or judicial approval, and includes sex-change surgery and hormone treatment in government health insurance plans. The same month, Chile passed an anti-discrimination law that penalizes all forms of discrimination. Although not specifically written to protect LGTBI rights, the measure was spurred by the brutal killing an openly gay man. Even Cuba has jumped on the bandwagon, electing its first transgender person to municipal office. Same-sex marriage is also legal in Canada and some parts of Mexico. Sadly, for all of the progress seen in this hemisphere, the situation for LGBTI people has actually worsened in much of Eurasia and Africa.

Passage of the Magnitsky Act:

Russia’s human rights decline made it an easy choice for this year’s “worst” list, but one development is worthy of celebration — the passage by the U.S. Congress of the Magnitsky Act. The legislation is named after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in jail after exposing a multi-million dollar fraud by Russian officials. It will place visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials involved in human rights abuses. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support as part of a larger measure that normalizes trade relations with Russia and Moldova. President Obama signed the legislation on December 14 despite harsh objections from the Kremlin. This law could set a precedent for how the United States and other free societies address gross human rights violations around the world. The European Parliament has endorsed the adoption of similar legislation.

Conviction of Charles Taylor:

In April, former Liberian president Charles Taylor became the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes since World War II. He was sentenced in May by a UN-backed special tribunal to 50 years in prison for his role in a decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone. He was specifically found guilty of aiding and abetting the “commission of serious crimes including rape, murder, and destruction of civilian property” by rebel forces in that country. Taylor stepped down as Liberian president in 2003 amid serious domestic challenges to his rule and international calls for his resignation. His departure ended 14 years of intermittent civil war that had killed some 200,000 Liberians. He sought asylum in Nigeria, but was eventually handed over to the special tribunal.

Survival of the Tunisian Revolution:

While the freely elected transitional authorities in Tunisia have been buffeted by public frustration with high unemployment and pressure from conservative Islamists, the country has not yet suffered the fate of many of its neighbors in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring. Varying degrees of instability and repression persist in Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and particularly Syria, but Tunisia has made slow if uneven gains in its democratic transition. The constitutional drafting process is creeping forward without the bitter conflicts seen in Egypt, and the ruling Ennahda party, which was at one time a radical Islamist faction, has largely followed through on its commitment to govern moderately and work peacefully with secular parties. As the country approaches the two-year anniversary of the revolution, however, economic struggles have led to anti-government protests, one of which left nearly 200 people wounded, and support for the ruling coalition has definitively waned. The constitution is two months overdue, and there have been some concerning violations of press freedom. Despite these challenges, Tunisia continues to provide a positive example to the wider region.

WORST

Civil War in Syria:

The civil war in Syria is the worst human rights and humanitarian catastrophe in the world today. The latest estimates put the death toll at 42,000, with no end in sight. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an alarming number of reporters — 28 — have been killed while covering the conflict in 2012. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has been on the verge of collapse for months, with many of his top advisers defecting or fleeing the country, yet he has vowed to remain in Syria, dead or alive. It is not even clear that his removal alone would end the fighting. Meanwhile, attacks by government forces on civilians in rebel-held areas are unceasing, and there are now concerns that the military is arming missiles with chemical weapons. Some rebel groups in the fragmented opposition have resorted to kidnapping and retribution killings, raising serious questions about postwar governance. No amount of diplomacy or international pressure has succeeded in convincing Russia to stop providing arms to government forces, or China to back broad-based demands for al-Assad to step down. And there is simply no political will within the United States or the rest of NATO to hasten the end of the conflict through direct intervention.

Devastation in Congo:

Over the past century, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the most resource-rich countries on the African continent, has been gutted by a combination of colonialism, corrupt and ineffective government, ethnic conflict and a succession of armed militias and rebel groups that have raped and pillaged their way through the countryside, often using conscripted child soldiers. As many as five million people have died since the late 1990s. The fraudulent 2011 reelection of feckless president Joseph Kabila was followed by the mutiny of hundreds of ethnic Tutsi soldiers, who then formed the March 23 (M23) rebel movement, widely believed to be funded by neighboring Rwanda. In November, M23 invaded and took control of Goma, a provincial capital with a population of 1 million, leading nearly 140,000 people to flee their homes. The international community has largely turned a blind eye to the country’s seemingly endless crisis, perhaps because there does not appear to be an easy solution. On a positive note, international pressure forced M23 to vacate Goma after just a few weeks, and the United States and Britain, which had long tolerated Rwanda’s denials that it was contributing to the unrest, cut military aid to the country as a result of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. But these steps on their own appear unlikely end the fighting.

Coup and Extremism in Mali:

As in Congo, the horrific human rights situation in Mali was not caused by any single event. Rather it was a cascade of disasters that included a military coup, a reinvigorated Tuareg separatist movement, an influx of hard-line Islamist militants and the combined effects of long-term drought, poverty and corruption. This perfect storm has created a humanitarian crisis that demands international action. Northern Mali is now controlled by militant groups that blend radical Islam with transnational crime. These militants have quickly introduced a crude imitation of Sharia, banning music, destroying historic sites deemed “un-Islamic,” and summarily punishing alleged crimes like alcohol use and adultery. There are widespread reports of rape and forced marriage, as well as the recruitment of child soldiers. According to the latest UN report, over 200,000 people are currently displaced. The international community, deeply concerned by these violations as well as the broader security threat posed by such a sizeable haven for terrorists, has pressured what remains of the Malian government to overcome its internal divisions and prepare for an international invasion to reclaim the rebel-held north.

Russia’s Precipitous Decline:

Since Vladimir Putin’s tightly controlled reelection as president in March, the political situation in Russia has become increasingly dismal, with some experts comparing it to the Soviet era. As part of an escalating clampdown on anti-corruption activists and political opponents, the government has enacted numerous pieces of legislation that will have a harmful impact on human rights and the functioning of civil society. Most disturbingly, one new law requires civil society organizations that receive foreign funds to register as “foreign agents” or face possible criminal charges. In a related development, USAID was forced by the Russian government to withdraw from the country. Expanded definitions of “treason” and “espionage” in the penal code have opened the door for authorities to round up government critics as well as citizens who consult with foreign firms or simply monitor human rights abuses. Other repressive measures have recriminalized libel, curbed Internet freedom, outlawed “homosexual propaganda,” and imposed additional restrictions on public gatherings. Independent voices, some within the government, who have tried to speak out against this wave of legislation have been expelled, arrested or otherwise muzzled.

Repression in Bahrain, Other Gulf States:

After an independent report commissioned by Bahrain’s King Hamad uncovered widespread human rights abuses committed during the violent suppression of a protest movement in February 2011, the government promised to implement the recommended reforms. That was a year ago. Not only has the regime failed to enact anything other than minor cosmetic changes, seemingly designed to mollify the international community, it has also continued on a path of repression. Impunity for the security forces and censorship persist, and dozens of human rights activists remain imprisoned, including 2012 Freedom Award winners Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and his daughter Zainab. In recent weeks, the government has stepped up the pressure, banning “unlicensed” demonstrations and stripping 31 opposition members of their citizenship. Journalists and human rights groups, including Freedom House, have been repeatedly denied entry to the country to report on these abuses. Sadly, Bahrain is not the only Gulf state in decline. Several neighboring governments have begun to make some alarming moves to silence their critics. Deportations, travel bans and unexplained detentions, as well as disturbing new legal restrictions freedom of expression, have been seen in the United Arab Emirates. A ban on “unlicensed” peaceful demonstrations was passed in Kuwait. And Oman has jailed dozens of people for making critical comments about the regime.

The Menace of Blasphemy Laws:

The online dissemination of an offensive film that mocked Islam and sparked violent anti-American riots and protests in more than two dozen countries served as a reminder of the pernicious nature of laws that prohibit blasphemy in many parts of the world. These laws, which ban insults to religions and religious figures, not only have a chilling effect on free expression but are often used to justify violence, repress religious minorities, and settle personal grudges rather than combat intolerance. According to a Freedom House special report, there is no evidence that restricting speech reduces religious intolerance. In fact, the evidence shows that prohibitions on blasphemy actually lead to a wide range of human rights abuses. This does not prevent some Islamic leaders from using global bodies like the United Nations to push for international norms that prohibit blasphemy. In 2011, after enormous advocacy efforts by human rights groups and a number of countries including the United States, Canada and much of Europe, the push for this kind of legislation was replaced by a more circumspect call for the promotion of religious tolerance and dialogue. Sadly, these moderating efforts were endangered this year by yet another flare-up of religious outrage.

Reprint: The Best & Worst Human Rights Developments of 2012 -By Mary McGuire | Freedom House.

*This piece originally appeared on Freedom House’s blog, Freedom at Issue. To read the original, click here .

Related: Most Popular Human Rights Topics on Twitter in 2012 | HRW

 

Pakistan Acid Honor Killing: Parents Arrested After 16-Year-Old Daughter Dies| Daily Mail

Police have arrested a mother and father in Kashmir for allegedly murdering their teenage daughter by throwing acid on her in an honor killing. It is said to be the first of its kind in the Pakistani-administered region, although they are commonplace across Pakistan.

Anosh Zafar, 16, was attacked after her father, Mohammed Zafar, saw her ‘standing close’ to a boy, police claimed.

Police officer Imtiaz Ali claims Mr. Zafar and his wife confessed to killing the girl because they believed she had sullied the family’s honor. The couple was arrested on Tuesday and an autopsy confirmed that the girl died of acid burns, according to local government official Masood-ur-Rehman. Police say the couple’s eldest daughter brought the case, which took place in a small village in the southern district of Kotli, to their attention.

She became suspicious when her parents refused to allow mourners to see the face of the dead girl before burial, which is a normal practice in Kashmiri Muslim society. Raja Tahir Ayub, another local police officer, told the BBC the girl’s father was furious because he saw the girl ‘looking at two boys’ on a motorcycle.

Mr. Ayub said: ‘He took his daughter inside, beat her up and then poured acid over her with the help of his wife.’ The parents did not take the her to hospital until the next day and she died there. Muhammad Jahangir, the head of the hospital in Kotli said the girl arrived with more than 35% burns.

‘There was no way she could survive,’ he explained.

Scores of women are murdered every year for marriages or relationships not approved by their families in Pakistan. The government made acid attacks a criminal offense punishable with life imprisonment in March.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that in 2011, at least 943 women were murdered, nine had their noses cut off, 98 were tortured, 47 set on fire and 38 attacked with acid.

Pakistan Acid Honor Killing: Parents Arrested After 16-Year-Old Daughter Dies| Daily Mail

 

 

Banaz: A Love Story (Documentary)

Banaz Mahmod was brutally murdered by her own family, in an honor killing. This film tells Banaz’s story, in her own words, for the first time — and tells the story of the extraordinary police team who refused to give up, and finally brought her killers to justice.

This is a documentary film chronicling an act of horror — the brutal honor killing of Banaz Mahmod, a young British Kurdish woman in suburban London in 2006, killed and “disappeared” by her own family, with the agreement and help of a large section of the Kurdish community, because she tried to choose a life for herself.

It was a case which shocked the entire world and received enormous international press coverage; but until now, the voice of Banaz herself has never been heard.

As the result of four painstaking years gaining the trust and co-operation of the extraordinary police officers who solved the case, the film contains heart-breaking footage of Banaz herself, detailing the horrors she was facing and accurately predicting her own brutal murder. The footage, which has never before been seen and has been obtained by the filmmakers for the first time, displays the warmth, beauty and courage of Banaz.

Despite the horror, what emerges is a story of love…

Of Banaz, an ordinary young British teenager, whose relationship with Rahmat put her life in danger. It was her video messages from beyond the grave which convicted her father and uncle of the murder she feared would happen.

Of Bekhal, a young woman of incredible spirit and bravery, whose love for her murdered sister gave her the strength to testify against her own family and community — bringing justice to Banaz but consigning her to a life forever lived in hiding.

Of Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode, the senior Scotland Yard detective, who says she came to love Banaz beyond the grave. It was Caroline’s dedication and passion which drove her on, finding her body against all the odds, laying her to rest, and relentlessly pursuing her killers, even to Iraq.

And Deeyah, international music artist and activist turned filmmaker, who has herself been subject to honor related abuse and threat. It was Deeyah’s love for the story, for Banaz, for Bekhal and for Caroline, and for raising awareness for the issue of honor killing, which has driven her to spend four years making this harrowing and deeply emotional film, running out of funding long ago, but forming an intimate bond with all the key players, which plays out on screen in scenes of astonishingly confessional testimony.

Banaz is a symbol of horror and hope in the fight to overcome oppression and outdated, abominable cultural practices, practices which claim the lives of thousands of other women like Banaz every year.

But above all, the film is an act of remembrance, an act of recovery of Banaz, one human being. After her family tried so brutally to erase her from the face of the earth, for the first time, Banaz’s voice is finally being heard.

In the making of this film, Deeyah has worked with a wide range of experts, activists and NGOs specializing in the field of honor -based violence, some of whom have been interviewed for the film. This collaborative process has led to a shared recognition of the urgent need for online educational resources and campaigning networks dedicated to this vital issue.

As a result, the making of Banaz: A Love Story, has led to Deeyah and her partners founding two initiatives:

Honour Based Violence Awareness Network (HBVA), an international digital resource centre working to advance awareness through research, documentation, information and training for professionals who may encounter women, girls and men at risk, building partnerships with experts, activists, and NGOs from around the world.

Memini, an online memorial to victims of honor killing. Memini exists to acknowledge the lives and deaths of thousands who are killed in the ongoing massacre of “honor” killing. We seek to create a community of remembrance to end the silence, honor the dead and keep their memories alive, collecting and preserving the stories of women like Banaz, as well as celebrating their strength and courage.

A film by Fuuse Films

Related: Film Captures Tragic Story of Honor Killing Victim Banaz Mahmod -By Katie Nguyen | TrustLaw

 

 

Turkish Woman Shoots, Beheads Rapist Who Impregnated Her -By Talia Kayali| CNN

Nevin Yildrim, 26, is accused of murder in the death of the man she claims raped and impregnated her.

A woman in Turkey is awaiting trial after beheading a man who she says raped her repeatedly for months and is the father of her unborn child. Her lawyer says the woman killed the man to protect her honor.

Nevin Yildirim, a 26-year-old mother of two, lives in a small village in southwestern Turkey. She said the man, Nurettin Gider, began the attacks a few days after her husband left in January for a seasonal job in another town, according to a source close to the case.

Yildirim said Gider threatened her with a gun and said he would kill her children, ages 2 and 6, if she made any noise, according to the source. That was the first of repeated rapes over the next eight months, the source said.

At one point, Yildirim said, Gider sneaked into her house while she was asleep and took pictures of her, the source said. One of the pictures shows her pregnant body. Gider threatened to publish the pictures if she didn’t obey him, the source said.

In small villages like hers, honor is held above all else, and women carry the burden of honor for their families. Pictures like those would have been devastating for Yildirim and her family and could have posed a danger.

On August 28, at least five months pregnant by a man who she said continued to rape her, Yildirim said she decided she had had enough. Gider was climbing up the back wall of her house. “I knew he was going to rape me again,” she said at her preliminary hearing August 30.

She said she grabbed her father-in-law’s rifle that was hanging on the wall and she shot him. He tried to draw his gun and she fired again.

“I chased him,” she said. “He fell on the ground. He started cussing. I shot his sexual organ this time. He became quiet. I knew he was dead. I then cut his head off.”

Witnesses described Yildirim walking into the village square, carrying the man’s head by his hair, blood dripping on the ground.

“Don’t talk behind my back, don’t play with my honor,” Yildirim said to the men sitting in the coffee house on the square. “Here is the head of the man who played with my honor.”

She threw Gider’s head to the ground, the witnesses said. Video from Turkish broadcaster DHA, which arrived on the scene before the authorities, showed Gider’s head on the ground.

Witnesses called authorities and Yildirim was arrested.

Gider was 35 and the father of two children, 15 and 9. He was married to an aunt of Yildirim’s husband.

Yildirim told her legal representative she regrets what happened, the source said.

“I thought of reporting him to military police and to the district attorney, but this was going to mark me as a scorned woman,” Yildirim said, according to the source. “Since I was going to get a bad reputation I decided to clean my honor and acted on killing him. I thought of suicide a lot but couldn’t do it.”

Yildirim said she was worried people would judge her children because of what happened, the source said.

“Now no one can call my children bastards,” she said, according to the source. “I cleaned my honor. Everyone will call them the children of the woman who cleaned her honor.”

The source said Yildirim went to a health clinic a while ago seeking an abortion, but health workers told her she was 14 weeks pregnant and abortion was not an option.

In Turkey, abortion is allowed during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, after which it is permitted only to save the life or health of the mother or in cases of fetal impairment, Human Rights Watch said.

At her hearing, Yildirim said she doesn’t want to keep the baby and that she is ready to die, the source said. The public prosecutor’s office has ordered a medical examination to decide whether Yildirim may have an abortion and to assess her mental stability, the source said.

Yildirim’s father, Zekeriya Yildiz, told DHA his daughter did not report the alleged abuse to anyone in the family.

“If she would have told us, we would have taken other precautions,” he said.

Yildirim is in the local jail while she awaits trial.

In a report last year, Human Rights Watch decried gaps in Turkish law that it said leave women and girls unprotected from domestic abuse. Some 42% of women older than 15 in Turkey and 47% of rural women have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner at some point in their lives, the group said.

“She has lived through a terrible trauma. She must be charged with self-defense,” said Gursel Oztunali Kayir, a sociologist at Akdeniz University and a member of Antalya Women Support Organization.

Reprint: Turkish Woman Shoots, Beheads Rapist Who Impregnated Her -By Talia Kayali| CNN

 

Taliban Shoot Woman 9 Times in Public Execution As Men Cheer | CNN

A shot rings out, but the burqa-clad woman sitting on the rocky ground does not respond.

The man pointing a rifle at her from a few feet away lets loose another round, but still there is no reaction.

He fires a third shot, and finally the woman slumps backwards.

But the man fires another shot.

And another. And another.

Nine shots in all.

Around him, dozens of men on a hillside cheer: “God is great!”

Officials in Afghanistan, where the amateur video was filmed, believe the woman was executed because two Taliban commanders had a dispute over her, according to the governor of the province where the killing took place.

Both apparently had some kind of relationship with the woman, said Parwan province governor Abdul Basir Salangi. “In order to save face,” they accused her of adultery, Salangi said. Then they “faked a court to decide about the fate of this woman and in one hour, they executed the woman,” he added.

Both Taliban commanders were subsequently killed by a third Taliban commander, Salangi said.

“We went there to investigate and we are still looking for people who were involved in this brutal act,” he said.

It is not clear from the video when it was filmed.

The killing took place in the village of Qimchok, not far north of the capital Kabul.

Lawmaker Fawzia Koofi called it a huge backward step for women’s issues in Afghanistan. “I think we will have to do something serious about this, we will have to do something as women, but also as human beings,” she said. “She didn’t even say one word to defend herself.”

Koofi wept on Saturday as she watched the video of the execution.

The United States condemned the killing “in the strongest possible terms,” calling it a “cold-blooded murder.”

“The protection of women’s rights is critical around the world, but especially in Afghanistan, where such rights were ignored, attacked and eroded under Taliban rule,” the American embassy said in a statement on Sunday.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan also condemned the execution.

“Let’s be clear, this wasn’t justice, this was murder, and an atrocity of unspeakable cruelty,” ISAF commander Gen. John Allen said in a statement Sunday. “The Taliban’s continued brutality toward innocent civilians, particularly women, must be condemned in the strongest terms. There has been too much progress made by too many brave Afghans, especially on the part of women, for this kind of criminal behavior to be tolerated.”

Excerpt, read: Taliban Shoot Woman 9 Times in Public Execution As Men Cheer| CNN

 

The Sex Issue| Foreign Policy (Special Report)

Photo: The Sex Issue – Foreign Policy

When U.S. magazines devote special issues to sex, they are usually of the celebratory variety (see: Esquire, April 2012 edition; Cosmopolitan, every month). Suffice it to say that is not what we had in mind with Foreign Policy’s first-ever Sex Issue, which is dedicated instead to the consideration of how and why sex — in all the various meanings of the word — matters in shaping the world’s politics. Why? In Foreign Policy, the magazine and the subject, sex is too often the missing part of the equation — the part that the policymakers and journalists talk about with each other, but not with their audiences. And what’s the result? Women missing from peace talks and parliaments, sexual abuse and exploitation institutionalized and legalized in too many places on the planet, and a U.S. policy that, whether intentionally or not, all too frequently works to shore up the abusers and perpetuate the marginalization of half of humanity. Women’s bodies are the world’s battleground, the contested terrain on which politics is played out. We can keep ignoring it. For this one issue, we decided not to.

Excerpt, read: The Sex Issue| Foreign Policy (Special Report)

Related: The Worst Place to Be a Woman -By Valerie M. Hudson | Foreign Policy

Why Do They Hate Us? -By Mona Eltahawy | Foreign Policy

The Most Powerful Women You’ve Never Heard Of | Foreign Policy

 

Women at the Forefront of Human Rights | Human Rights First (Video)

Eleanor Roosevelt was the driving force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations passed in 1948. Since then, women have been at the forefront of human rights movements—pushing for human rights to be truly universal.

Some of the women in the video above are women’s rights activists and others are human rights activists who happen to be women. Whether it’s promoting tolerance in Pakistan, democratizing Egypt and Bahrain, or fighting for LGBT rights in Russia, these women face unique challenges, from sexism to gender-based violence. Yet they refused to be silenced.

Visit Honoring Women Human Rights Defenders| Human Rights First for more information about women human rights defenders.

 

A Family’s Honor: The Killing of Noor al-Maleki | CBS

On Oct. 20, 2009,  Noor al-Maleki was at the Department of Economic Security (DES) in Peoria, Ariz., helping Amal Khalaf fill out paperwork for food stamps.  Noor was living with Khalaf, a maternal figure whom she’d known since childhood. Noor was estranged from her parents, Iraqi immigrants, who were displeased with what they called her “American ways”. Her father, Faleh al-Maleki, threatened to physically harm her after she rejected a marriage he arranged for her. Noor lived in a constant state of anxiety and fear. This day was no different.

After leaving DES, the two women decided to go to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a drink. They were making their way across the parking lot when Khalaf spotted a gray jeep bearing down on them.  Just as she raised her hands and shouted “Stop!” the vehicles plowed into the two women. Khalaf was knocked unconscious and woke to find strangers huddled around her. But she could not see Noor, who was crumbled on the grasping for air and bleeding from her mouth. She suffered a head injury and multiple facial fractures, among other injuries. She never regained consciousness.

On Feb. 22, Faleh al-Maleki was convicted of killing his daughter, committing aggravated assault against Khalaf and leaving the scene of a crime. His defense attorney argued that he had intended to spit on Khalaf and accidentally ran over the two women. Prosecutors had pressed a first-degree murder charge. They characterized his actions as an “honor killing,” a controversial term that refers to a family member or members killing a relative, usually a girl or young woman, whose behavior is judged to have tarnished the family honor.

The jury found Faleh guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, finding that he didn’t plan the act in advance. They also found the existence of aggravating factors, which means he could face up to nearly 46 years in prison. The evidence presented at trial made clear, however, that Faleh was influenced by a warped sense that Noor had impugned his family’s honor.

CBS 48 Hour Mystery - ”A Family Honor”  examines the circumstances surrounding this tragic case.

The article above provides information and excerpts extracted from:  An American Honor Killing: One Victim’s Story -By Nadya Labi Peoria | TIME

Related: A Reporter’s Journey: Revealing the Honor Violence Epidemic -By Nadya Labi Peoria | TIME

Jasvinder Sanghera’s charity, Karma Nirvana

 

Afghan Child Bride Tortured for Six Months | Al Jazeera (Video)

An Afghan child bride is recovering in hospital after being held captive and tortured for six months by her husband’s family. While her case is extreme, it is still often acceptable in Afghan culture for a husband to hit his wife.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reports from Kabul.

Related: “Opium Brides” | FRONTLINE PBS (Video)

 

Imtiaz Dharker Reads Her Poem ‘Honour Killing’|The Guardian UK

In ‘Honour Killing’, taken from her 2001 collection I Speak For the Devil, Imtiaz Dharker – who describes herself as a ‘cultural mongrel … a Scottish Muslim Calvinist, brought up in a Lahori household in Glasgow’ takes on the vexed twin subjects of religion and identity.