Legacy Matters
A father who ordered his daughter's death for falling in love with a man who didn't come from their Iraqi village was found guilty of murder in a London court yesterday
Banaz Mahmod, 20, was strangled with a boot lace, stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a back garden.
Her death is the latest in an increasing trend of such killings in Britain, home to some 1.8 million Muslims. More than 100 homicides are under investigation for being potential "honor killings."
Because the European authorities are bringing more of honor killings to trial, it seems that in Turkey anyway, women are forced to commit suicide for bringing dishonor on their families.
Women Forced into Honor Suicides
Young girls can be accused of dishonouring the family simply for wearing jeans or glancing at a boy or even being looked at by a man in a wrong way.
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Sky News spoke to another woman whose identity cannot be revealed. She married at the age of 15. Her husband beat her and was unfaithful.
When she complained and asked for a divorce her own family told her to commit suicide.
"My sister said kill yourself, kill yourself. Your husband, your family disowns you.
Only the code of silence, the blanket of secrecy is keeping these crimes from coming to the attention of the prosecutor. The shame of such families who abet such actions is misplaced, it belongs on them.