'Honour killings' on the rise

2003-10-27 16:10

Tehran - Forty-five young women have been murdered in so-called "honour killings" in Iran's majority ethnic Arab southwestern province of Khuzestan in a two-month period this year, press reports said.

An aide to the province's governor said the killings were recorded from the beginning of the Iranian new year in March to May, adding that none of the crimes went through the courts.

"Based on reports we have received, 45 girls under the age of 20 from just one tribe were murdered in 'honour killings' carried out by either their fathers, uncles, brothers or cousins," Pari Mirbeyk said.

"There is no court hearing or anything. They kill the girl and burn her identification card. And since there are no concrete laws to combat this they usually walk free, or otherwise nothing is reported in the first place," she added.

So-called "honour killings" are carried out for a variety of reasons, including a girl's refusal to agree to an arranged marriage, not abiding by the strict Islamic dress code or simply having contacts with males who are not family members.

Pari said another problem was rape within families. She said the governor's office had recently received 18 complaints of rape by girls aged between 12 and 14, but gave no time period for the complaints.

The advisor said the province had also seen a return to pre-Islamic traditions, including the practice of "Hediyeh", literally "gift" - whereby a girl is given as a consolation present to the head of a tribe if his parents die.

Another tradition making a comeback is "Nahveh" - meaning "method" - in which a girl is obliged to marry her paternal cousin.

If she refuses, she is threatened until she accepts. If she is stubborn in her refusal or the cousin rejects her, she has no right to marry for the rest of her life.

- SAPA