ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—One week after its foundation, women’s rights organization Zhiyan [Life] Group organized a demonstration against honor killing in the Kurdistan Region.

The demonstrators condemned the killing of Nigar Rahim, a Kurdish girl in the Garmiyan region, who was raped by one of her brothers and later killed by another.

The spokesperson for Zhiyan called on all the civil organizations in Kurdistan to join her group in its campaign.

I have done nothing wrong by killing her, he says

Yet another girl in Uttar Pradesh has paid with her life for falling in love and insisting on marrying her lover. She was killed by none other than her father for the sake of family honor.

Eighteen-year old Reshma was strangled by her father Salim in Hapur district on Thursday after she refused to desert her lover and marry someone else as wished by the family.
After killing his daughter, an unrepentant Salim went to the local police station and told everything to the cops.

CHAKWAL: A man killed his sister over suspicions regarding her character at Pungain village in the jurisdiction of Dumman Police Station, Chakwal on Wednesday.

Ijaz Hussain, father of Samina Bibi told the police that she had come to her parents’ home after quarrelling with her in-laws who live in Bheen village.

She later disappeared from home for three days. He said when he went to withdraw his pension, his son Mubashar Hussain, opened fire at her and killed her.

ISLAMABAD: So-called honour killings by families that believe their daughters have disgraced them are increasingly common in Pakistan. But the shooting last week of a woman by her brother, a lawyer, in front of dozens of witnesses in a packed courtroom in Hyderabad marks an alarming new low.

The family of 22-year-old Raheela Sehto had made clear their fury over her marriage to Zulfiqar Sehto - a love match struck without their permission. They filed a claim with local police that their daughter had been kidnapped by her 30-year-old husband, a lifelong neighbour who had wooed Raheela over the years, largely through clandestine mobile phone conversations.
Her uncle had tried to throttle her with a scarf at an earlier appearance at the High Court in Hyderabad in July.
The couple had petitioned the court for its protection and to have the kidnapping charges thrown out.

MULTAN: Three women of a family, and a neighbour, were killed in a village in Bawalnagar on Monday morning allegedly by their male relatives who suspected one of the deceased of having illicit relations with a brother of the neighbour.
Four others were injured in axe attacks by the suspects, who have been arrested by Donga Bonga police. The injured included Muhammad Afzal, who the suspects believe was seeing Pathani Bibi, one of the deceased; his nine-year-old brother Tahir Raza, father Muhammad Razzaq and a cousin, Guria Bibi.

Duma (Dolls) is an extremely powerful documentary by Abeer Zeibak Haddad. It is regarded as the first ever film to focus on and shed light to violence against and sexual assault of women in Palestine.

Haddad's first attempt to expose this issue is a puppet theatre show she created (Chocolate), which deals with silencing of sexual abuse. The film opens up with a scene from the puppet show: we see a little girl in the playground; a stranger approaches her; we do not see what he does to her, but we can see him turning her forcefully on the carousel as she pleads: "Enough! I don't want the carousel! I want to get off!"

Brave Alesha Ahmed has finally brought her parents to justice, but it’s too late for Shafilea

Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed were convicted today after their daughter Alesha told Cheshire Crown Court that she saw her parents suffocate her older sister Shafilea in September 2003.

“By breaking her silence, Alesha Ahmed has ensured justice for her sister Shafilea. She deserves enormous recognition for telling the truth about this brutal ‘honour’ killing, and we hope her bravery will encourage others to come forward,” said Diana Nammi, Director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), which helps victims of ‘honour’ based violence.

While welcoming today’s verdict, Nammi insisted that lessons must be learned from Shafilea’s death, as evidence revealed during her parents’ three month trial suggested that the teenager’s life could have been saved.

Her poetry captured something more profound and deadly than the normal angst-ridden teenage yearnings for freedom.

“I don’t pretend like we’re the perfect family no more, desire to live is burning, my stomach is turning, but all they think about is honour,” wrote Shafilea Ahmed before being murdered by her controlling parents and her body dumped in a remote riverbank where it was hoped it would never be found.

The slim, bright teenager with the ready wit and ambitions to be a lawyer, found herself caught between two cultures.

She has been on the run from her family for seven years, but Maziera's only sin is being a Sikh who married a Muslim.

In the eyes of her family she has brought shame and dishonour.

"My dad said he wanted to kill me and I had gone too far this time," said Maziera, not her real name, who lives in the North West.

"I've had to change my identity, change the way I dress, change my look, and he still keeps threatening me.

"He keeps saying he's going to get me one day, he's going to kill my daughter, he's going to kill me because I have shamed my family."

A local court of Badaun on Monday awarded death penalty to seven members of a family for killing a couple in Fareedpur village in May 2006.

The police, in its investigation, found that Deen Dayal and Aneeta, both in their early twenties, had been victims of ‘honour killing’.

All those convicted belonged to the girl’s family and included her father Nathu. Additional District and Session Judge S N Tripathi held them guilty of murder.