Qamar
born: 1994
murdered: 19 January 2020
Location: Al-Kharj (Saudi Arabia)
Origin: Saudi
Children: none
Perpetrators: Presumably her brothers Ahmed and Nasser (both in their 30s)
In mid-January, an uproar arises on Twitter because of tweets by Manal for first asking for help in the search for her sister Qamar and later openly accusing her brothers Ahmed and Nasser of involvement in the murder because Qamar had opened a public Snapchat.
In a video, their mother says her daughter was killed without justice and asks Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for justice for her daughter. She complains that the police confiscated Manal's phone because of a tweet and suggests that the police are busier preventing a negative portrayal of Saudi Arabia in the media than solving the murder.
Manal was arrested and detained by police and forced to hand over her phone. The police deleted several tweets, officers made her beg in vain to get her phone back. They told her not to tweet about the case anymore. Their mother wonders where policemen get the guts to do it this way?
Because of all the fuss about Manal's poor treatment, authorities have responded and confirmed that two arrests have been made in connection with Qamar's death.
The police issued a written statement that included the following passages: "The security services of the Al-Kharj governorate police have received a report on January 19 from a citizen about the disappearance of a young woman, aged 26.
"The results of the preliminary investigation procedures show that her body was found in a desert, 10km from the governorate. Two citizens in their 30s have been arrested on suspicion of their involvement in the incident that caused her disappearance and death"
The reactions on Twitter show a picture of a population fed up with the authorities treating murderers of women with leniency and grace, while the "whistleblowers" in honor killings who are simply standing up for justice are treated ruthlessly and cruelly by the authorities.
Human rights activists in Saudi Arabia are particularly pessimistic when it comes to getting justice for Qamar and they expect the perpetrators to end up with a maximum of 3 years in prison.
Our expectation is that Saudi Arabia as an arch-conservative country will be the last country in the world to bring its laws and regulations in line with international law.
