Woman stabbed and killed in Hamburg-Niendorf

Birikti G.
born: 1997
stabbed to death: 20 February 2022
Residence: Hamburg-Niendorf
Origin: Eritrea
Children: 1 daughter (1 year old at the time of the crime)
Perpetrator: her partner Merawi K. (35 years old)

Around 2019 Birikti and Merawi come to Germany and have a daughter. On February 22, 2022, a neighbor calls the police because she sees blood in the stairwell. The officers find the badly injured Birikti. She dies in the hospital. The perpetrator is arrested in the neighborhood. The daughter is placed in the care of the Youth Protection Agency.

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.