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Afghan soldier fatally stabs sister in ‘honour killing’
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, May 5, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – An Afghan soldier
stabbed his teenage sister to death after she rejected a marriage
proposal arranged by her family, police said Tuesday, in what appears
to be a so-called “honour killing”.
The 18-year-old woman was killed Monday in Baharak district of the
northeastern province of Badakhshan by her brother, who later fled to
a Taliban-controlled area, provincial police spokesman Sanaullah
Rohani told AFP.
Rohani said the victim was first strangled by a rope and then
stabbed to death.
“Her brother has fled to a Taliban-controlled area, and the police
have launched a search operation to arrest him,” Rohani said.
A women’s rights activist from Badakhshan confirmed the murder.
The victim wanted to marry a man she loved but her family wanted her
to marry someone else, activist Asifa Karimi said.
“She rejected her family’s proposal and handed herself in to the
police, but the police gave her back to her family,” Karimi said.
“Her brother, a soldier, took her home and killed her brutally in a
case of honour killing.”
Parts of Afghan society operate under a strict code of “honour” that
gives women little or no say in matters such as whom they can marry
and whether they can get an education.
Fawzia Kofi, a former lawmaker from Badakhshan, blamed the police
for mishandling the case.
Many in Afghanistan, including within the country’s police and
judiciary, believe “honour killing” is a suitable punishment for women
who elope, Kofi told AFP.
“Women in Afghanistan are still the most vulnerable…. part of
society, not only under the Taliban controlled areas but also at
homes.”
During their rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban banned women from
working, going to school, and ordered them to be fully covered when
leaving their homes.
Activists say violence against women remains high across Afghanistan.
Last year, the country’s Human Rights Commission recorded over 2,700
cases of violence against women in Afghanistan, a nine-percent
increase compared to the previous year.
BSS/AFP/MRU/2120hrs