Horrific details of ‘honour killings’ of two Syrian girls revealed

Residents of the city of Haskah in northeastern Syria were shocked by two "honour killings" over the past week, with hundreds of people protesting the deaths of one of the victims - a girl named Aya Khalifo - who was strangled by her father after she was raped by her cousin.

Aya was killed just days after another girl, Aida Saeedo, was also murdered in a so-called “honour killing”.

The New Arab’s Arabic-language service's correspondent in Syria obtained details of the circumstances of Aya's murder, learning that she was imprisoned by her father at the family home in Hasakah, where she was bound with a metal chain for over a year before her father strangled her on Monday.

Her father kidnapped and detained her after she was raped by one of her cousins, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crime by a Syrian regime court.

Most of the city of Hasakah is under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with a small enclave, known as the "Security Box" under the control of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The family lived in this enclave.

Rajaa Issa, an official with the Sara Organisation, a group which works to stop violence against women, told The New Arab’s Arabic service that Aya's father had handed himself over to authorities, describing so-called honour killings in the area as a "heinous cycle".

She called for local authorities to ensure that people who murdered their female relatives for so-called "honour" reasons would receive punishment that would deter others from committing the same crime.

"We want justice to run its course, so they can be an example for any person who thinks about committing such an act," Issa said, adding that the first girl to be killed in Hasakah this month, Aida Saeedo, was forcibly married by her family at the age of 15 before being shot dead by her relatives.

"These families say that these killings are justified by ‘honour’ – where was your honour when you forced Aida Saeedo into marriage when she was 15? Where was your honour when you deprived her of the right to education and life?"

She added that lack of education, "obsolete" attitudes and traditions, the availability of weapons, and the unstable security situation in Hasakah all contributed to the occurrence of honour killings in the area.

The Sara Organisation recorded nine instances of honour killing between the summers of 2020 and 2021.

Abdel Nasser Houshan, a lawyer, told The New Arab’s Arabic-language service that Syrian law gave reduced penalties to those convicted of so-called "honour killings" if they believed that a relative they had killed was engaging in sexual activity outside marriage, and that in some cases perpetrators were not punished at all.

"Unfortunately, these cases are dealt with according to the customs and traditions of each area and the way they are dealt with varies. Most of the time they are influenced by the custom which says that [so-called honour] killings erase shame."