One in 10 British Asians backs honor killings
AFP
This is one way to estimate what percent of the Muslim world is incompatible with our civilization and are potential enemies.
September 5, 2006
LONDON -- One in 10 British Asians believe that so-called honor killings - of someone who brings shame on their family - are justifiable, according to a poll Monday.
A tenth of 500 Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, and Muslims surveyed by the BBC's Asian Network radio said that they would condone the murder of someone who disrespected their family's honor.
Typically, that might involve a woman who has a relationship with someone of another religion. About 13 people a year in Britain are thought to die in honor killings, the survey's authors said.
"Most of the Asians who are in Britain today come from very tribal communities," said Navid Akhtar, a journalist who has been examining the issue.
"Honor is a big deal, it's kind of caught up with your property, it's caught up with your women and if anybody comes close to threatening you, you have to avenge your honor."
The government should "send out a clear message, an unambiguous message that such violence against women will not be tolerated," Aisha Gill, a lecturer in criminology at Roehampton University in south London, told the BBC.
The issue was highlighted in July when the brother and cousin of a Pakistani victim of an honor killing in Britain were given life sentences for her "barbaric" murder.
Samaira Nazir, 25, a recruitment consultant, was stabbed to death after her family was angered by her intention to marry Salman Mohammed, an Afghan asylum seeker.
She was stabbed 18 times at the family home in west London by her brother Azhar Nazir, 30, and cousin Imran Mohammed, 17, the two men's trial was told. Her throat was also slashed.
Nazir, a greengrocer, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years, while Mohammed is to remain behind bars indefinitely with a minimum of 10 years.
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