Sunday, February 7, 2010

Medine Memi: Another Honor Killing Victim


In catching up with some news, I ran across this story via World Net Daily. The original article appeared on the website of The Gazette, a publication out of Canada.

It appears that another young life has been snuffed out under the guise of an "honor killing." A 16-year-old girl in southwest Turkey was buried alive by her father and grandfather for having boys as friends. Wouldn't want her to have any contact with males outside of an arranged marriage, right?

Forty days after she went missing in Kahta town, Turkey, authorities received a tip. Medine Memi's body was discovered in a two-meter deep hole in the family's chicken pen (see photo below). According to the report, she was in a kneeling, praying position with her hands tied when she was placed in the hole.



An anonymous expert made the following statement after the autopsy was done on Medine's body.

"The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl -- who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood -- was alive and fully conscious when she was buried," one anonymous expert said. [Emphasis mine -- B & G]

Also in the autopsy findings was the fact that Medine had a large amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, an indicator that the girl was very much breathing when they buried her. Imagine how she suffered while knowing that her fate was for the family name and reputation. My heart breaks.

Medine's father and grandfather have been arrested and jailed while awaiting trial. Her father testified that the family was unhappy that she had made male friends. Boo-frickin' hoo, Daddy!

Despite stories such as this, muslims still claim to be tolerant and peaceful. How ANY parent can do this to their child in the name of "honor" escapes me. Since when does what people think of the family take precedence over an irreplacable life that you helped create?? Children are a gift from God, not a badge of "honor" for a family's name.

Should Medine's father and grandfather be convicted, may I suggest digging a hole? Seems appropriate.

5 comments:

Opus #6 said...

Poor baby girl. My heart hurts to read this. :-(

The people who did this are animals. The culture that supports this is disgusting.

blackandgoldfan said...

I second that emotion, Opus!

LL said...

The sentence for an HONOR KILLING in Islamic Courts is almost always very light. Maybe a year in custody or perhaps less. It's not viewed as murder by the Koran. It comes under the rubric of what we would term, "voluntary manslaughter" in the US.

Sue said...

This is totally mindboggling. Our culture has no concept of this crap...and we shouldn't have tolerance for the same shoved down our throats. "They" can say all they want, but tolerance for this way of life IS being touted in our culture! Or at least, the beginnings of such... I am sickened and livid over this! God have mercy on that poor child's soul! I can only imagine it was the male portion of the family. I REFUSE to believe a mother would take part in the cold blooded murder of her daughter.

Libertarian Advocate said...

LL has it right (as usual). Under the Muslim religious tradition (Hadith), such a killing is nearly a duty. Turkey is a technically secular state, but remains a strongly muslim country by religious tradition. Accordingly, its not surprising that there would be a nominal condemnation of "Honor Killings" in its criminal code, but the perception of the severity of such a crime would never reach the equivalent of what we would call a voluntary homicide (as opposed to the lesser crime of manslaughter) here in the U.S.