Maha
born: 1979
Doused in gasoline and set on fire: June 13, 1997
Residence: Dormagen/Neuss
Origin: Lebanon
Children: none at the time of the crime
Perpetrator: her father Kassem (43 years old at the time of the crime)
Maha's family came to Germany from Lebanon in 1985. Later, her mother lives with the four (or more) children in Dormagen. The father lives separately in Neuss. But he visits often. He is violent toward the children. He breaks his wife's arm during an argument. He loses his job as a truck driver for drunk driving.
During a visit on June 13, 1997, Kassem learns that his daughter Maha has an Iraqi Kurdish boyfriend named Ali, who is 8 years older. He disagrees with this. In an adjoining room, he mixes a highly flammable turpentine gasoline mixture. He douses his daughter with it and sets her on fire.
Maha runs outside and rolls on the wet lawn. A neighbor arrives with a blanket and smothers the flames. The 18-year-old is flown by rescue helicopter to a special clinic in Cologne. More than half of her skin is burned, she undergoes more than 20 operations, she is in a coma for 10 weeks, her left hand has no fingers left. Her face also remains disfigured.
The father flees, but is arrested a few hours later. For his crime, he is sentenced to life in prison by the Düsseldorf Regional Court in 1998. Still in the corridors of the court, he accuses Maha of having tarnished the family honor. If he is ever released, he will probably be deported. But Maha and her family are still threatened by her father's clan.
Maha, despite her injuries, goes through training as an industrial clerk and marries her childhood German sweetheart Kalle Schaaf, a security guard, in 2002 in Dormagen. They have two daughters.
