Lareeb Khan
born: 1995
Strangled: 27/28 January 2015
Location: Darmstadt
Origin: Pakistan
Children: probably not
Perpetrator: her father Assadullah K. (51 years) and her mother Shazia (41 years)
Lareeb is a 19-year-old woman from Pakistan with a German passport. She learns to become a dental assistant and is in love with a young man named Raheel T. who is also from Pakistan and has a German passport. He studies and drives a taxi as a side job.
The parents do not approve of the relationship, probably because they have already promised or sold their daughter to someone else. The two parents are also married by their parents in Pakistan. The father worked in agriculture until he came to Germany at the age of 25.
On the night of 28 January 2015, father (51 years old) and mother (41 years old) strangle the young woman. They transport the body in their grandmother's wheelchair to a vehicle. Then the body is deposited in a forest. The next morning, walkers find the body.
The next day the parents are arrested. Initially also an aunt and an uncle (36 and 39 years old), but they are released again. The father confessed to the deed. He belongs to the leadership of the Ahmadiyya community in Darmstadt, a community known for its misogynistic interpretation of religion. He spoke very little German and was removed from office "by obvious misconduct". Lareeb went to school veiled.
After the crime, Lareeb's younger sister Neda/Nida comes to family members. Later she moves to friends. She is a joint prosecutor in the trial, which starts in September 2015. The father takes all the blame in order to exonerate the mother. The Sister's statements seem to see her mother as a driving force. They learn that the father worked as a cleaner and that the mother was forbidden to learn German.
It was a common method of teaching. The newspaper writes that the parents have set up a domestic terror regime with abuses and all-round supervision. For the crime, the father taped up the security cameras in the hallway. With an umbrella, father and mother rehearsed how to transport their daughter's body without being filmed. However, the lawyer of the defence does not want to see this as a joint preparation for the murder. Instead, the father was imprisoned in his Muslim community. Apparently no one there told him that the daughter's freedom is more important than the father's will. In honour killings it is not uncommon for the perpetrator to feel good and at best show remorse for strategic reasons. Lareeb's father too: In court he declares that he will not change, but that he will continue to live his life as before. This allows conclusions to be drawn about how he wants to treat his younger daughter.
In December, both parents are sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the particular seriousness of the guilt has not been established.
