Honour killing story: Tanja A. (2010)

Tanja A.
born 1971
stabbed: April 12, 2010
Residence: Marburg
Origin: Victim: Germany; Perpetrator: Tunisia
Children: 2
Perpetrator: her husband Moncef A. (age 55)

Tanja is a translator and lives with her husband Moncef, the two children they have together and her father, who is in need of care, in a house owned by Tanja's family. Moncef is a computer scientist, but does not work and speaks broken German. He travels to Saudi Arabia several times and becomes increasingly religious. His daughter attends Koranic school. Tanja takes care of her father and the children. It is said that her husband called her in when she was gone too long.

On April 13, 2010, Moncef stabs his wife to death early in the morning, possibly in front of her father, who is in a wheelchair. He then turns himself in to the police. Officers find the body and the murder weapon in a pool of blood. The trial begins in January 2011.

In May, Moncef is sentenced to 8 years in prison for manslaughter. After half of his sentence - i.e. after 4 years - he is deported. But not to Tunisia, but to France, because a large part of his religious family lives there. He is banned from entering Germany for several years.

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.