Monday, January 07, 2008

Possible Honor Killings in Lewisville, TX: Part II



Part I: Possible Honor Killings in Lewisville, TX

As often happens, more information is trickling in, some of it contradictory.

Amina and Sarah's 19 year old brother says the murder had nothing to do with religion.

His statement doesn't even slightly bump the odds of this either being or not being an honor killing. If he is an Islamist - a believer in Sharia - he has earned the right to not have his words believed by any informed person. If he is an Islamist, he will lie about anything and everything, as needed, in order to battle and defeat the infidel. Deception is his blessed weapon.

Then we have the testimony of teen-aged friends of Sarah and Amina. They might be telling the truth. They might be overheated teen-agers. Impossible to say which.

The media will not help us by doing actual, well-sourced investigative reporting. The media will simply rush quotes into print, without further investigation. We can only wild-guess their validity (h/t):

Zohair Zaidi, a close friend of Sarah’s, said she told him her father had recently threatened to harm Amina when he discovered she had a boyfriend.

“Her dad has always been oppressive with her and her sister,” said Mr. Zaidi, 18.

“She said that one day when she came home – the day he found out about Amina’s boyfriend – he told Sarah, ‘I’m going to put a bullet through Amina’s head, and you better get used to her because she’s not going to be around much longer.’
Michelle Malkin finds, in the Dallas Morning News, an honor killing quote from an adult:
Gail Gartrell, the sisters’ great-aunt, said Saturday that Mr. Said had physically abused the two girls for years. Around Christmas, the girls’ mother – Ms. Gartrell’s niece – had fled because of Mr. Said’s threats to kill the girls after he learned they had boyfriends, she said.

“She ran with them because she knew he would carry out the threat,” Ms. Gartrell said. “This was an honor killing.”

She said her niece returned after Mr. Said told her that he would move out so they could reconcile. Within a few days, she said, the girls were dead.

He lured the girls back, so he could kill them. This exactly reminds of Aqsa Parvez. Aqsa was living with another family. Her brother lured her back to her parent's house, ostensibly to get some of her clothes. Her father was waiting.

Amina and Sarah's mother is an American. She married the girls' father when she was 15, and he was 30.

As if on cue, after the Jan 1 murders of Amina and Sarah, the Jan 3 Yemeni Times prints an editorial opinion justifying violence against wives and daughters:
There must be violence against women
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Maged Thabet Al-Kholidy
majed_thabet@hotmail.com

This title may sound strange, but it’s actually not just a way to attract readers to the topic because I really do mean what it indicates.
[...]
beating is considered a type of violence, according to human rights organizations, which urge women to complain to the police. I just wonder what kind of families our societies would have if Muslim women started doing this regarding their husbands.

Relationships between fathers and daughters or sisters and brothers also provoke argument from human rights organizations, which propose the suggested solutions for all relationships. Personally, I don’t think fathers or brothers would undertake such behavior unless there was a reason for it.

Fathers are responsible for their daughters’ behavior, but human rights organizations deny this too. Brothers also should take action regarding their sisters’ behavior, especially if their parents are too old or dead. If a daughter or sister makes a mistake – especially a moral one – that negatively affects the entire family and its reputation, what’s the solution by such organizations?

According to them, women should complain to the courts about any type of violence against them. Likewise, should fathers and brothers complain to police if their daughters or sisters violate moral, Islamic or social norms?

Fathers should handle their daughters via any means that suits their mistake

Jihad Watch has excellent analysis:

No one will dream of holding the American Muslim community accountable for aiding and abetting the creation of a culture of violence against women. Oh no. That would be "Islamophobic."

And so this Yemen Times piece comes particularly ill-timed for Hooper and other Islamic spokesmen in the West....
[...]
This is the culture that killed Amina and Sarah Said. This is the culture that killed Aqsa Parvez. This is the culture whose leaders persist in denial, obfuscation, and finger-pointing instead of honest dealing with the problem.


Related: Aqsa Parvez and Western denial

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