Honour killing story: Jara (2019)

Jara
born: 1997
stabbed: March 12, 2019
Residence: Rinteln (Lower Saxony)
Origin: Afghanistan
Children: 2 (at that time 1 and 4 years old)
Perpetrator: her husband (at that time 27 years old)

Jara comes from Afghanistan and wants a divorce. Her husband does not accept this and puts her in the shared apartment in Rinteln in the Schaumburg district, between Bielefeld and Hanover, on March 12, 2019. Later, 36 stab wounds are counted.

The perpetrator is an Afghan who grew up in Iran and works in agriculture. He flees with his two little daughters and leaves them with a family member in Wunstorf. The next morning he reported himself to the police in Hamburg. Jara is not the real name of the woman. The children were not in the apartment during the crime.

In September the trial starts at the district court of Bückeburg.

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.