Not All Honor Killings Are Islamic

Here are two news stories about two different families, one Danish, and one American. The first was sent by a Gates of Vienna reader and commenter, kepiblanc, who kindly summarized his own translation of the following story from Politiken (original in Danish):

“Honor Killings” are by no means unusual in Denmark nowadays. Normally the police grab the killer, and put him in front of a court of justice where he will get a sentence of life behind bars.

But something has changed: For the first time ever an entire family of nine is standing trial for premeditated, cold-blooded murder. That’s right, not only the trigger-man, but his entire family as well.

Last September Ghazala Khan (18) married a young man. Her family didn’t approve, and two days later she and her husband were gunned down in public in front of a railway station in the small town of Slagelse. A man sitting on a nearby bench had his cell phone’s camera activated and took the photo at right.

The man who pulled the trigger was Ghazala’s own brother. Ghazala screamed, “What are you doing?” while she took six bullets from a large caliber Smith & Wesson handgun. She died on the spot. Her husband took the remaining two bullets in the stomach, but survived.

As the investigation turned out it appears that Ghazala’s father orchestrated the killing in cooperation with eight members of the family, including chasing Ghazala down, providing the handgun and the getaway car.

The usual procedure in these “honor killings” is as follows: the family appoints one member to perform the actual slaughter (preferably a teenager in order to get a milder sentence) and the courts will prosecute that man only. But not so this time: The Danish Courts want to set an example and eventually hold the entire family responsible. What that means is: hold Islam responsible.

Stay tuned.

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Appositely, a similar story unfolded right here in America this past week. A man already in custody in Lake Dora, Florida, facing a life prison term for multiple counts of sexually abusing his daughters — even raping one at gunpoint — is now in the same jail as his parents, who attempted to hire a someone to kill their granddaughters in order to prevent their testimony in court against the couple’s son:

Lake County deputies Tuesday arrested the couple — she’s 59, he’s 64 — and charged them with plotting to hire a hit man to kill their son’s wife, 10-year-old daughter, his 16-year-old stepdaughter and 14-year-old stepson and the family dog.

Similarly, a cousin in the family has been implicated for helping the rapist find a place to stay in Georgia when he initially became a fugitive after being charged with forty eight counts of sexual battery last Fall. The story notes that the son was “the mastermind” behind the plot to kill his family. His parents simply followed orders.

Both these stories are examples of primitive, tribal thinking. It is a mindset based on an axis of honor vs. shame. We know that the bizarre family in Florida will get due justice. In fact, they’ll get a whole lot more time and more hearings than they deserve, given the mandarin-like environment of our justice system.

But the unusual treatment of this honor-killing in Denmark represents a change in thinking and gives hope that at least one European country is not headed down the dhimmi-tube. When you live by the laws of the tribe, then the whole tribe should suffer the consequences.

Once again, Denmark shows its true colors. And those colors are brilliant.