Man suspected of honour killing of sister

15 April 2005

AMSTERDAM — An Iraqi-Kurdish man, 21, is suspected of murdering his sister, 18, to protect the honour of the family, a court in Arnhem heard on Friday.

During a pre-trial hearing, the presiding judge indicated the court wanted to question the victim’s foster mother and aunt to establish if the killing was ordered by her family in Iraq.

The foster mother is in hiding because she fears the family in Iraq wants to punish her for giving the victim too much freedom.

The court has also ordered that the accused man from Culemborg be examined in the Pieter Baan psychiatric centre in Utrecht to find out if his cultural background played a role in the crime. An expert in ‘honour’ killings will also testify at a later hearing.

The victim was a non-practising Muslim and had a child in 2004 by her non-Muslim boyfriend. She was killed 15 days after the birth of the baby.

Her brother had allegedly regularly threatened the victim, and she had made a complaint to police in November 2004, shortly before her death.

Subject: Dutch news