No honor in "Honor Killings"

The hole where Medine Memi was buried alive

This article from the Inquirer is really sickening...

ANKARA—A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeast Turkey in a gruesome honor killing just because she reportedly befriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off, police discovered Medine Memi's body in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-meter-deep hole in a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta town, Adiyaman province, 40 days after she went missing, the agency said.

A subsequent post mortem revealed that she had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning that she was buried alive, forensic experts told the agency.

What would possess a father to do something like this? Killing his own daughter just because he felt dishonored by her talking to boys? Isn't this the 21st century? It's unbelievable...

I can't even begin to imagine the sheer terror this poor girl must have felt before she died at the hands of men she loved. Apparently this barbaric practice is still alive and well in many parts of the world.

Human Rights Watch defines "honor killings" as follows:

Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce—even from an abusive husband—or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a way that "dishonors" her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life.

Wow, even the mere perception of impropriety is enough to get a woman killed? Also some countries still think this is culturally/religiously acceptable? Absolutely outrageous and very very sad.





*** photo courtesy of Reuters