Honour killing story: Banafshe (2012)

Banafshe
born: 1976
mutilated: 30 October 2012
Residence: Berlin-Schöneberg
Provenance: Victim: Iran; Perpetrator: Iraq
Children: at least 1 daughter (8 or 10 years)
Perpetrator: Omid Ramadani (45 years)

On 30 October 2012, a passer-by in Berlin-Schöneberg calls the police. The officers find a bound and mutilated Iranian woman in her apartment. Her breasts are cut off, her genitals wounded. In the next room is her daughter, who is also tied up. She probably heard the abuse.

The police are looking for her ex-partner Omid R., a native Iraqi with a Dutch passport. Banafshe would have split up with him six weeks earlier. Some media say that the woman was tortured to death in front of her daughter.

The daughter is taken under the care of youth care, Banafshe is operated on and survives. In November 2012 Omid is arrested near Tehran. Presumably he has another Iraqi and/or Iranian passport. He confesses the crime. It is unclear whether the Iranian legal system will continue the investigation, or whether the perpetrator can be extradited to Germany.

In August 2013, the Berlin police will stop the investigation. A Berlin gossip magazine suspects that the perpetrator could get the death penalty in Iran. It is still known that he used several aliases and has served a prison sentence in the Netherlands for several years for a similar crime.

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.