Over 5000 women and girls are killed every year by family members in so-called 'honour killings', according to the UN. These crimes occur where cultures believe that a woman's unsanctioned sexual behaviour brings such shame on the family that any female accused or suspected must be murdered. Reasons for these murders can be as trivial as talking to a man, or as innocent as suffering rape.

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By waseem Raza (Pakistan )

A court in Pakistan has turned down hearing the case of an eight-year-old girl who was married off in exchange for her father’s second wife.

The Judicial Magistrate East declined on Monday to hear Zahida’s case whose father Abdul Rasool was booked by the police. Abdul Rasool is accused of marrying her off to a man identified as Dilshad. Rasool wanted to marry Dilshad’s sister Haseena. The little girl’s mother, Parveen (Rasool’s first wife) told SAMAA that the marriage was contracted on June 25, following which she went to the local union council nazim and registered a case with the police.

The wedding ceremony was performed by Qazi Naqeeb Shah who was also presented in court. He claims that he only did what he was told and thought the girl was 15 years old as her father had said.

Berlin - A 45-year-old Turkish man has admitted stabbing his 15-year-old daughter to death because she did not follow Islamic customs, German police said on Thursday.

The man, a kebab shop owner in Schweinfurt, southern Germany, stabbed the teen several times with a kitchen knife as she lay sleeping on her grandmother's couch in what police said was a premeditated act.

"As a motive for the terrible crime, the 45-year-old admitted that he had problems with the fact that his daughter did not want to follow the Muslim way," police said in a statement.

ISLAMABAD: Exposing horrors of honour killing, known as Karo-Kari, Karachi-based ‘Awami Theatre’ on Monday night staged an Urdu stage drama titled ‘Daozakh’ (Hell) at National Art Gallery (NAG).

Organised by Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in collaboration with Pakistan Anti Narcotics Force and Capital Development Authority (CDA), the play is a part of National Drama Festival 2009.

LUDHIANA: In a suspected case of honour killing, a woman home guard was stabbed to death by her paternal uncle here on Tuesday. The constable, who was two months pregnant from her second marriage.

According to information available in this regard from the statement of 15-year-old Sunny Shergill, son of the deceased constable Neelam Kumari from her first marriage with Avtar Singh, she was constantly at loggerheads with her uncle because of her second marriage against his wishes.

KABUL (AFP) — The US global women's ambassador said Friday impunity for attacks against women and girls in Afghanistan was intolerable and the government needed to provide them with better legal protection.

Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for women's issues, told reporters that she had delivered this message to President Hamid Karzai and other officials during a three-day visit.

"These violations against human rights are intolerable," Verveer said.

Lucknow: In a suspected honour killing, a man allegedly beheaded his daughter who was insisting on marrying her lover in Rampur district.

Shaukat Saifi was arrested after he allegedly beheaded his daughter Naseem with a sharp edged weapon yesterday in Krimcha village, about 250 km from here, police said today.

While Naseem wanted to marry Yasin, a resident of the same village, her father was opposed to the alliance, they said.

DNA India

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) - Prosecutors in Chechnya say they have detained a young man accused of shooting his sister to death in an honor killing.

Prosecutors say the young man has confessed to killing his sister with multiple gunshots because of her «immoral behavior.
They said in a statement Saturday that the murder was the latest in a string of killings and disappearances of women in the region. About 30 women aged 18 to 27 have been killed or gone missing since last fall.

LAHORE: A man from Sabzazar has been arrested for allegedly killing his sister in yet another honour killing case on Thursday.

According to police, Iqbal strangled his 22-year-old sister Adeeba – in the presence of family members – for having illicit relations with a boy from their neighbourhood. The alleged murderer later asked his family members not to disclose the incident. The victim’s family planned to bury her in their native city of Khoshab, but locals informed the police and Iqbal was arrested.

SHAHDADKOT: Three persons including a woman and a child were killed in the name of honour by a group of armed men in a village near the Sanjar Bhatti Police Station, Shahdadkot district on Tuesday.

Two people, Abdul Rasheed Junejo and his 3-year-old son Rashid, were killed by a group of armed men led by Imam Bux Brohi.

According to the police report, the accused also shot and killed Junejo’s wife.

THE father of an Asian girl found dead after refusing an arranged marriage has failed in a High Court fight to overturn a coroner’s finding that his daughter was “unlawfully killed”.

In February 2004, the body of 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed was found by workmen on the banks of the River Kent, near Sedgwick, in the Lake District, 90 miles from her home in Liverpool Road, Warrington.

CHANDIGARH, 13 JUNE: Davinder Singh thought his bride was in the custody of her parents when he moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It was only during the pendency of the petition he came to know she had been killed for family “honour”.

The shocking incident in Kapurthala district was brought to the notice of Justice Mr Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, almost one-and-a-half years after the incident. Taking up the petition, Justice Mr Ahluwalia has now made it clear he was in favour of the case being investigated without fear or favour. In the habeas corpus petition, Mr Davinder Singh had claimed he married Rupinder Kaur on 2 May last year against her parents’wishes. On 19 April, Rupinder's relatives came to his house on the pretext of organising a proper ceremony and took her along with them.

A father brutally murdered his daughter and a young boy for having love affairs in Samangan province, Northern Afghanistan. He stabbed them many times with a knife.

The girl was named Shakila and was 18 years old and the boy named Ghulam Sakhi was 22. This savage incident took place at 3 in the morning in Haji Umar Village of Aibak city (centre of Samangan).

Officer Amir Jan Istanikzai, police chief of Samangan, told PAN that the murder had been committed by Haji Gulbuddin, the girl’s father. He added that Haji Gulbuddin had called the police and the police went to his home and arrested him.

AMMAN, Jordan - A Jordanian court has convicted a man of attempting to kill his sister to cleanse his family’s honor and sentenced him to 7 1/2 years in jail.

The court said Wednesday the man stabbed his sister with a knife several times before she managed to escape from the house and reach the hospital for treatment.

Boston Herald 17 June 2009