Fellow Culture Kitchen writer, Leo Igwe, from Nigeria, recently wrote about a murder in Nigeria where a mob tore a teacher apart because she was perceived as "defaming the Koran." He uses this incident to discuss the hypocrisy of religious fundamentalism where pieces of paper are considered sacred, but human life expendable.

Today Salon.com has another story of Fanatics Gone Wild, this time in Iraq. It seems that the traditional practice of honor killings is alive and well in post-Saddam Iraq.

Several readers have brought to our attention a truly horrible story: last month, Du'a Khalil Aswad, a 17-year-old Kurdish girl in Iraq, was stoned to death as an "honor killing" for presumably having a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy. (She was a member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi.) Unfortunately, the fact that a girl was murdered for "honor" isn't the news here. The story has recently garnered attention because cell phone videos have surfaced of the killing itself.

...here is a description from The Assyrian National News Agency:

"In a short mobile video clip which appears to have been taken by locals at [the scene] of the murder, the girl is seen being ambushed on her way home by a group of up to 1000 men who were waiting for her to return; the men killed her in the most brutal way possible, by throwing large stones on her head. The following clips show that while she is alive and crying for help she is taunted and kicked in her stomach until someone finishes her off by throwing a large stone on her face. From the clips it appears that the girl was first stripped naked to symbolize that she had dishonored her family and her Yezidi religion. She is lying on the road naked while her smashed face is covered with blood and still breathing."

For those with strong stomachs or who wish to bear witness to this disgusting act, the above mentioned Assyrian National News Agency has the cell phone videos accompanying their story. But there are a couple of points the Salon.com story leaves out from the Assyrian National News Agency strike me as important:

...a number of armed local police officers were present who in fact helped the crowd to kill the woman rather than preventing the crime. Sometime later the Iraqi army arrived at the scene and refused anyone entry, including the press.

Killing women for reasons of honor, shame and religion does happens in regions of Kurdistan and Iraq. The above incidents are not uncommon in some of the deeply religious and traditional communities. For long violence against women has been commonly used as a political and religious weapon and as a means of social control.

By Kameel Ahmady, Mina Rojdar
www.Kurdishaspect.com

The Kurds are a people who have had a hard time for centuries and I sympathize with and respect them overall. But the people who perpetrated this "honor killing," and the police who not only failed to do their job but even aided and abetted a criminal act have dishonored their culture and the reputation of their people.

Of course the very name "honor killing" is one of the most disgusting oxymoron I have ever heard. What could possibly be more DISHONORABLE and craven than an angry mob swarming over a lone teenage girl, stripping her, and stoning her to death? Particularly for police officers who are sworn to protect innocent lives and uphold the law.

There are those out there who will use this as an excuse to belittle Islam, since this is a practice that can be found in many Muslim nations. But this is not unique to Islam by any means. There are examples in Hindu families. Greeks have been known to practice the exact same kind of "honor." Wikipedia cites legal codes and/or precedents for honor killing as a defense in murder cases in Haiti, Brazil and Colombia. Here in the United States fundamentalist Christians have murdered members of their family for the exact same reasons. Just a few months ago a Christian family fleeing from religious persecution in Iran committed just such an honor killing in Chicago. The shame of honor killings can be found among fanatics of almost every religion.

That said, the evidence shows that the majority of "honor killings" occur in Muslim majority nations. This is a shame that Islam should face up to, even though no religion is innocent. Religion should not be an excuse for violence against women.

MADRE, an organization that grew out of opposition to the US sponsored contra rebels in Nicaragua, has set up an "underground railroad" to help women in Iraq who are threatened by this kind of culturally and religiously sanctioned violence. I can also recommend the International Campaign Against Honor Killings for more information about honor killings throughout the world. And here is a discussion on the shame of "honor killings" on altmuslim.com from January 2006. I will end with a quote from that discussion:

[Honor killing] is a repugnant stain that has absolutely no justification in Islam whatsoever. It is a cancer that must be torn away from the body of the Muslim world, and it can only be done from within the Muslim world itself. There has to be a major process of re-education, to teach these people how Islam condemned such practices over 14 centuries ago. With such clear verses in the Qur'an such as 16:58-59, one would think such a process would be easy. Unfortunately, however, old habits die hard. But this is one habit that has to die again - and this time for good.

Hesham A. Hassaballa