Honour killing story: Ashtar (2019)

Ashtar
born: 1992
strangled: August 9, 2019
Residence: Lebach (Saarland) / Bad Salzschlirf (near Fulda)
Origin: Iraq
Children: 2
Perpetrator: her husband (27 years at the time of the crime)

Ashtar, her husband and 2 children apply for asylum in Germany in January 2019 and move to Lebach in Saarland. She gets divorced and moves to friends in Bad Salzschlirf, Hesse.

Somehow her ex-husband tracks her there and strangles her to unconsciousness in her friends' apartment on August 9, 2019. One of the two children witnesses the crime. The perpetrator is arrested. Two days later, Ashtar dies in hospital. The real names of the persons involved are not known.

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.