Honour killings

Steven Hazel was married but wanted to end his marriage. He increased the life insurance on his wife and removed his prize possessions from the family home.
Hazel then murdered his wife and tried to hide the murder by burning down the family home with his wife's body inside. This is a terrible story about violence and greed -- but Mr Hazel's violence was directed at his wife only and he had no plans to intimidate others by his cruel deed.

Compare this to an 'honour' killing; a killing, usually of a woman, because she has breached some sexual code of conduct, say, by dating a man of a different religion or race.

At first blush there's no difference. If a woman is killed for insurance money or for 'honour' she's still dead.

But on closer analysis there is a difference and an important one.

Killing a spouse for insurance is brutal and monstrous but it is an act only focussed on the deceased.

Honour killing kills the deceased and threatens others. An honour killing uses violence as theatre to intimidate others. It stands to enforce a sexual code of conduct by violence and threats. An honour killing is part of an organised effort to subjugate woman to a specific and oppressive view of society.

Under Canadian law terrorism includes an act taken for political, religious or ideological purposes which threatens the public or national security by killing, seriously harming or endangering a person. Terrorism is violence designed to intimidate for an ideological purpose.

That's what an honour killing is -- violence intended to subjugate and intimidate women.

In the United Kingdom the Crown Prosecution Service has found links between 'honour killings' and terrorism.

The Nazir Afzal, the CPS's national leader on honour crime said an Islamist terror group threatened to kill a woman, now in hiding, for her sexual behaviour. Afzal said:

"They told her husband that if he didn't put his wife in her place then they would do it themselves."

In just the same way the Ku Klux Klan used violence to enforce white supremacy in the southern United States honour killings seek to keep women as second class citizens unable to chose and unequal to men.

Let's call honour killing what it really is. Call it terrorism.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777