Muslim accused of honor killing 19-year-old woman

“At an earlier court hearing, it was said the chain of events leading to Miss Dookhran’s death was linked to her Indian Muslim family’s disapproval of her relationship with an Arab Muslim man.”

Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that “retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right.” However, “not subject to retaliation” is “a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring.” (‘Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law.

The Palestinian Authority gives pardons or suspended sentences for honor murders. Iraqi women have asked for tougher sentences for Islamic honor murderers, who get off lightly now. Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but “the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour ‘provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.’” And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values.”

Until the encouragement Islamic law gives to honor killing is acknowledged and confronted, more women will suffer.

“Man denies ‘honour killing’ of 19-year-old woman Celine Dookhran,” by Tristan Kirk, Evening Standard, October 14, 2017 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

A man accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering a teenage make-up artist in a suspected “honour killing” denied all the charges today.

Mujahid Arshid, 33, is accused of snatched 19-year-old Celine Dookhran from the shower, tying her up with duct tape and rope, and bundling her into a car.

Miss Dookhran was allegedly falsely imprisoned and raped before being murdered by Arshid, it is said.

He is also accused of kidnapping, raping and trying to kill another woman, but she managed to escape and sound the alarm, leading to the discovery of Miss Dookhran’s body in a freezer in a £1.5 million house in Kingston.

At the Old Bailey today, Arshid appeared via videolink from HMP Belmarsh to deny murder, attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of conspiracy to false imprison, possession of a Taser, and two counts of rape.

Co-defendant Vincent Tappu, 28, from Ealing, is accused of helping to kidnap and falsely imprison the women on July 19 this year. He also pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Arshid now faces two new charges – which he denies – of sexually assaulting the second woman between November 2008 and November 2010.

At an earlier court hearing, it was said the chain of events leading to Miss Dookhran’s death was linked to her Indian Muslim family’s disapproval of her relationship with an Arab Muslim man….