Spousal Murder and Honour Killing.

Photo; Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37, who was beheaded by her estranged husband.

A horrofic murder occurred yesterday in Buffalo, with the victim beheaded by her estranged husband.

Detectives have charged Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder after his wife was found beheaded Thursday at the offices of the cable channel, Bridges TV, in the Village of Orchard Park.

The victim was identified as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. ……

It was Aasiya Hassan who encouraged her businessman husband to launch the cable channel, she said. “She was such a lovely person.”

Muzzammil Hassan launched the channel in 2004 in hopes of dispelling stereotypes of Muslims as terrorists, and balancing widespread images of Muslim extremism with moderate viewpoints.

Aasiya Hassan had filed for divorce and obtained an order of protection on Feb. 6, barring her husband from their home in Orchard Park, police said.

“There had been problems before — there had been prior incidents of physical abuse,” said Corey Hogan, whose law firm, Hogan Willig, represented Aasiya Hassan in the divorce proceeding.

Hogan said discussions were being held about continuing arrangements for the couple’s two children, ages 4 and 6, and two older children, ages 17 and 18, from Muzzammil Hassan’s previous marriage. …

At this point the term ‘honor killing’ has not been mentioned, so it could be a case of spousal murder, something that is far too common in society. Given though the method of killing – beheading, it seems to lean heavily towards having Islamic cultural aspects about it, which leads me to believe that it was an ‘honor killing,’ a serious misnomer as there is no honor in killing.

Western culture has little to be sanctimonious about in regard to violence against women, especially in family situations, as it seems to occur with horrific regularity. I believe there is a cultural aspect to this, in that while we like to consider that we have risen above our origins as a patriarchal society, the primitive ingrained instincts remain. Of course another aspect to it is that in arguments things sometimes get out of hand and men are generally physically stronger and more volatile. It is however inexcusable.

Christianity itself has struggled and in the main failed to rise above downright misogyny, with the issue of elevation of women to equal status varying in most denominations from problematic, to schismatic.

I posted recently on the disgusting attack on Louisa Rodas who was shot in the face by her estranged brother in law while caring for her sister, Denise, (his ex-wife) who has terminal ovarian cancer. In this case there was a long history of domestic violence, including an attack on Denise a few months earlier with a hammer to her head in order to steal her painkillers. The penalty for this, three months, is a clear indication that the law does not take these matters seriously.

Islamic culture however has a substantial history of killing women who are considered to have transgressed by their families as a matter of “family honor.” There is some argument as to whether the Koran actually endorses this position, but it seems to happen often enough for it to be considered to be part of the faith. There are some practices that have made their way into Islamic society, through being part of regional traditions such as clitorectomies, which I understand are not part of Islam, and not all of Islam does this. Honor killing seems to be pretty broad based though.

Photo; Amina, and Sarah Yaser Said who were murdered by their father.

One case I reported some time ago was that of teenage sisters Amina Yaser Said and Sarah Yaser Said who were murdered by their father who fought with them in the past for being too Westernized in their outlook. When he discovered they had boyfriends, he shot them and left them to die in the back of his taxicab. He has not been caught and it is widely believed he has escaped the country.

Another particularly nasty case was that of Aqsa Parvez, 16, who was strangled by her father in an honor murder in the Toronto-area. She refused to wear the Islamic hijab, and wanted to live the normal lifestyle of a Canadian teenage girl, but ran into conflict with her strict, religious father. One friend and schoolmate said the Canadian teenager was afraid of her father and often came to school wearing bruises, the result of his violence.

Her death appears to have been the result of a family decision, and there is some evidence that her older sister used to spy on her at school for the family. It appears that she was lured to her death by a brother whom she trusted. He picked her up at a bus stop, saying he would bring her home to get a change of clothes, where she was then killed, for living like a Canadian. There are Muslims who have the courage to face this problem: -

Tarek Fatah, founder of the Canadian Muslim Congress, calls Parvez’s murder a blight on Islam.” In my mind, this was an honor killing,” said Fatah, adding it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

And as if he was talking directly to the Toronto Star, the Muslim community leader also said there needs to be an honest debate about this murder and that “the media should not just talk to the ones wearing head scarves but the ones who do not want to.”

With or without the hijab on, Aqsa Parvez would only have nodded her agreement with that.