Father strangles his 15-year-old daughter Miad Barhayel in Algeria

Miad Barhayel
born: 2007
strangled: 12 june 2022
Residence: Hamlet 3 district in Batna, Algeria
Origin: Algeria
Children: none
Perpetrator: her father

Perhaps this act is not an honor killing, and perhaps this case does not belong in this archive.

Miad Barhayel is a 15-year-old girl who had passed her high school exams and was waiting for the results. Her father and mother are divorced.

On the evening of June 12, the father lured his daughter away from her grandmother's house by promising her an Iphone. To the grandmother, he asked to let his daughter go with him to go bird watching at his sister's house.

The father beat and strangled his daughter until she was dead in his sister's house and then surrendered at a police station. The forensic doctor says Miad died of suffocation and had bruises on the abdomen and knees. We would be very happy with any leads!

If it turns out that there is no honor motive, we will of course remove the case from the archives.

What is an honour killing?

An honour killing is a murder in the name of honour. If a brother murders his sister to restore family honour, it is an honour killing. According to activists, the most common reasons for honour killings are as the victim:

refuses to cooperate in an arranged marriage.
wants to end the relationship.
was the victim of rape or sexual assault.
was accused of having a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Human rights activists believe that 100,000 honour killings are carried out every year, most of which are not reported to the authorities and some are even deliberately covered up by the authorities themselves, for example because the perpetrators are good friends with local policemen, officials or politicians. Violence against girls and women remains a serious problem in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Serbia and Turkey.