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"Honor Killings" of Muslim Males in the West

by Daniel Pipes
November 5, 2005
updated Jul 25, 2009

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Islamic honor killings normally target the women-folk, bearers of the family honor ('ird), not the men involved with them. But in some cases, to be documented here, men kill or maim other men for reasons related to family "honor."

Chomir Ali (left) and his two sons Mohammed Mujibar Rahman (centre) and Mamnoor Rahman.

Gets girl pregnant, murdered by her relatives: A Bangladeshi father and his two teenage sons were just found guilty of an honor killing in Oxford, England. What makes the case unusual is that Chomir Ali, 44, ordered Mohammed Mujibar Rahman, 19, and Mamnoor Rahman, 16, to kill not his daughter and their sister, Manna Begum, but the 19-year-old Iranian Muslim boy who made her pregnant, Arash Ghorbani-Zarin. This horrid incident (Ghorbani-Zarin was stabbed 46 times, mostly in the chest) brings Italy to mind rather than the Muslim world, where the pregnant daughter/sister would usually be the victim. (November 5, 2005) Dec. 13, 2005 update: At sentencing today, Chomir Ali got a minimum of 20 years in jail, Mohammed Mujibar Rahman got a minimum of 16 years, and Mamnoor Rahman a minimum of 14 years for their parts in the murder.

Preventing marriage to an unworthy bride: Rachid (30) and Mohamed (33) and a brother-in-law, Ali (31) tried to abduct their brother/brother-in-law on his wedding day in Brussels and spirit him off to Morocco, their ancestral country. They took these steps because they considered his bride unworthy, the prosecution asserted. (Although of Moroccan origin, the girl had Spanish citizenship.) Failing in this, during the wedding ceremony on July 5, they dealt the bridegroom several blows and tried to tie him down to force him into their car. The wedding party members intervened, prevented the abduction, and called the police, who arrested the trio. Comment: The Islamic doctrine of kafa'a, requires that the bridegroom be socially on a par with his bride, not the reverse, so this case comes as as a surprise. (July 7, 2008)

Man attacked with acid for relationship with a married woman: A Danish man of Asian origin, 24, is in a critical condition, after an attack by four men about 2 a.m. on July 2 in Marchant Road, Leytonstone, east London, due to his having "insulted" a religious family by developing a close relationship with a married woman. The assailants poured sulphuric acid on his face and down his throat, stabbed him twice in the back, and attacked him with bricks. He ended up blinded in one eye, with severe injuries to his tongue and throat, 50 percent burns over his body, and fractures to his face. He is on life support in Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford. His condition is described as critical but stable.

One eyewitness recalled: "I saw four men lashing out and kicking him on the ground. I shouted and they ran off, then one went back and started on him again. The poor man got up and ran straight into a tree, then staggered back to his house, tugging at his burning clothes and banging on doors shouting for water." Kay Dice, 52, another witness, added: "He was screaming and screaming, but he spoke little English and some people thought he may have just had too much to drink. I thought he had a huge cross on his back, but it was where his skin had peeled away."

The police arrested seven young men. Five are free on bail and two, ages 19 and 25, have appeared in court, charged with attempted murder. (July 23, 2009)

Homosexuals punished or killed: A topic conspicuously missing here, so far, is the treatment of Muslim homosexual men in the West. To give some idea of the problem, here are some extracts from a study out today from Human Rights Watch, "'They Want Us Exterminated': Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq," about the same issue in Iraq: In addition to women, men

also bear the "honor" of their families and tribes. Human Rights Watch heard testimonies from Iraqi men who faced violence or murder because they were not "manly" enough, incurring shame on the whole extended household. These stories suggest the importance of treating "honor" as an issue, and an incitement to rights violations, that cuts across genders.

Punishments for not being "man" enough start when young. "Since I was 12, my father and my brothers beat and insulted me for my feminine appearance and behavior," Tayyib, 24, from Baghdad, told us. "My father beat me all the time, and he also burned my hands and arms with heated metal. My brothers would beat me up whenever they saw me playing with girls, for example. My mother tried to protect me, but she couldn't do anything to stop it."99

The study goes on to give several other accounts along these lines. (August 17, 2009)

Related Topics: Criminality, Islam, Sex and gender relations receive the latest by email: subscribe to daniel pipes' free mailing list This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.