Family Honor Killing: Take a Peek at This Brutal Practice Done to Women
By: Lioness Rue
Tags: Feminism, Injustice, Crime, Women, Womens Rights

The following is an example where he was physically abusive towards her in her own words!

“I’ve got one set of photos when he had hit me so much on the head -my lips were bleeding, my ears were bleeding, and he had twisted my wrist so badly. All of that greatly affected me, and now I’ve got memory loss. I can’t remember things, and when I clean my ears, they bleed.”

Although Banaz left her husband several times, her family always sent her back to him to be a better wife. She described how it was tough and challenging for a Muslim female like her to get a divorce.

After another incident of being called so skinny and a whore she left him for good and filed for a divorce. After leaving her husband, she met and fell in love with a man named Rahmat.

Doing so only worsened the situation as she put herself in more danger. Leaving her husband was and is not tolerable in her culture, and she had gone on to fall in love with a man not approved by her family.

As soon as she left her husband, she started having a bunch of stalkers frequently. Her secret relationship with Rahmat could quickly be exposed, and it was.

Because she feared for her life, she reported to the police, who, in turn, didn’t take her seriously. In one of the interviews, a detective couldn’t even clearly answer her question.

Now that I’ve given you the statement, what can you do for me? —her unanswered question

She went to the police on five different occasions, and they did nothing to help her.

Sadly, the murder of Banaz came to be, and somehow she knew she was going to face this fate. She sent a letter to the police telling them about the killing and highlighted names. This move certainly helped in quickly identifying her killers. While she managed to escape the first attempt, she couldn’t survive the second one.

They found her body coiled up in a suitcase six feet underground. She was raped, beaten, and strangled to death using a wire. Five men were charged with her murder, including her father and uncle. They all got life sentences. Maybe some justice was served.

Honor killing is a horrible practice that has been going on for centuries across cultures over the world. It’s a criminal offense that should get some attention. And because the family is responsible for the murder, most cases are easily covered up.

Many women are still at risk of being murdered because of this “honor” ideology. And, measures should be taken to protect these women at risk of being murdered. And hats off to the people who are doing all they can to create awareness in isolated cultures.

Many girls are living in fear of being killed every day.

Imagine living your whole life in fear and hiding simply because of your feelings. Imagine if your life’s dream was being safe. That is the life that Bekhal, Banaz’s sister, now lives because she testified against her family to attain justice for her beloved sister.

Bekhal was the first to rebel against her family, and she endured a murder threat as a result. Her brother unsuccessfully tried to wipe her from the face of the earth using a dumbbell.

The explanation was to remove the dishonor she brought to the family by leaving home. She was lucky to survive, but her younger sister was certainly not. In short, killing Banaz was a way to put the shame she brought the family to an end. What exactly did she do to bring shame to her family?

Once killed for honor, one’s existence is completely forgotten.

It’s unfair to have your memory wiped from the face of the earth by the same people who are supposed to love, protect, and cherish you? We all want to be remembered for something.

We all desire to leave a certain legacy on this earth, no matter how small it can be. Caroline Goode, a detective who worked on Banaz’s case, describes how she noticed that there was not even a single photograph of Banaz in her home after her death.