Honour killing story: Fatma S. (2006)

Fatma S.
born: 1967
stabbed to death: 20 March 2006
Residence: Hamburg-Eißendorf
Origin: Turkey
Children: 2 daughters (7 and 13 years old at the time of the crime)
Perpetrator: her husband Attila (40 years old)

Fatma and Attila come from the same Turkish province and are "promised" to each other in a kind of forced child marriage. First Attila moves to Germany and works as a welder in a shipyard. He is given a German passport. Around 1992, Fatma also moves to Hamburg. The two have two daughters.

In the bedroom of the family's flat, Attila stabs his wife to death on 20 March 2006 and then cuts off her head. With this, he goes to a gas station and has the gas pump attendant call the police. In custody, he goes on a rampage. The two daughters were sleeping in their room at the time of the crime and were taken into the care of the Red Cross.

This case can be read as a psychiatric case. Drugs and psychotropic medications play a role. However, the doctors had classified the perpetrator as harmless.

The case can also be read as an honor killing. Attila was an Islamist; he insulted women without headscarves as infidels. He forced his wife to wear a headscarf. As a motive for his crime, he claims he wanted a divorce by killing her. The judge locked him up in a mental institution.

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.