Honour killing story: Maryam H. (2019)

Maryam H.
born: 1998
stabbed: July 28, 2019
Residence: Zwickau / Dortmund
Origin: Afghanistan
Children: 1 daughter
Perpetrator: her husband Mokhtar H. (24 years)

Maryam lives in Zwickau in Saxony and will visit a friend in the Dortmund district of Lütgendortmund for a few weeks in the summer of 2019. She takes care of their children (5 and 9 years). This is probably already an escape from her violent husband. Maryam has no residence permit for Germany, but probably for Sweden. Possibly her parents live there and have "sold" her to Germany.

Maryam's husband has a residence permit for Germany. He travels after her or stalks her. On the night of July 28, 2019, he stabs her in her friend's apartment and puts the body in a suitcase. He drags the suitcase 800 meters to a backyard and puts it in a garage among the garbage.

A friend enters the girlfriend's apartment, sees blood and calls the police. A large suitcase is missing. On July 30, the police arrest the perpetrator in Zwickau. He gives clues about the location of the suitcase. The officers find Maryam's body, which shows 76 stab wounds and strangulation marks. Maryam bled to death and was strangled with a shoelace. The husband is flown to Dortmund.

There is also a reference that the couple entered Germany in 2016 and have a child that does not live in Germany. Maybe it is with the parents in Sweden.

In January 2020 the trial will start at the regional court of Dortmund. On a photo from the courtroom, the perpetrator wears a sweatshirt with the imprint "give a fuck". In February, he is sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for manslaughter. The verdict states that manslaughter where the victim is exposed to such intense influence is "very, very extraordinary". However, cruelty is not established as a hallmark of murder.

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.