Honor killing

The cultural features which lead to honor killings are complex. Honor killings involve violence and fear as a tool for maintaining control. Honor killings are argued to have their origins among nomadic peoples and herdsmen: such populations carry all their valuables with them and risk having them stolen, and they do not have proper recourse to law. As a result, inspiring fear, using aggression, and cultivating a reputation for violent revenge to protect property is preferable to other behaviors. In societies where there is a weak rule of law, people must build fierce reputations.[24]

In many cultures where honor is of a central value, men are sources, or active generators/agents of that honor, while the only effect that women can have on honor is to destroy it.[24] Once the family's or clan's honor is considered to have been destroyed by a woman, there is a need for immediate revenge to restore it, for the family to avoid losing face in the community. As Amnesty International statement notes:

The regime of honor is unforgiving: women on whom suspicion has fallen are not allowed to defend themselves, and family members have no socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain on their honor by attacking the woman.[25]

The relation between social views on female sexuality and honor killings are complex. The way through which women in honor-based societies are considered to bring dishonor to men is often through their sexual behavior. Indeed, violence related to female sexual expression has been documented since Ancient Rome, when the pater familias had the right to kill an unmarried sexually active daughter or an adulterous wife. In medieval Europe, early Jewish law mandated stoning for an adulterous wife and her partner.[24]

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, an anthropology professor at Rhode Island College, writes that an act, or even alleged act, of any female sexual misconduct, upsets the moral order of the culture, and bloodshed is the only way to remove any shame brought by the actions and restore social equilibrium.[26] However, the relation between honor and female sexuality is a complicated one, and some authors argue that it is not women's sexuality per se that is the 'problem', but rather women's self-determination in regard to it, as well as fertility. Sharif Kanaana, professor of anthropology at Birzeit University, says that honor killing is:

A complicated issue that cuts deep into the history of Islamic society. .. What the men of the family, clan, or tribe seek control of in a patrilineal society is reproductive power. Women for the tribe were considered a factory for making men. Honor killing is not a means to control sexual power or behavior. What's behind it is the issue of fertility or reproductive power.[27]

In some cultures, honor killings are considered less serious than other murders simply because they arise from long-standing cultural traditions and are thus deemed appropriate or justifiable.[26] Additionally, according to a poll done by the BBC's Asian network, 1 in 10 of the 500 young South Asians surveyed said they would condone any murder of someone who threatened their family's honor.[28]

Nighat Taufeeq of the women's resource center Shirkatgah in Lahore, Pakistan says: "It is an unholy alliance that works against women: the killers take pride in what they have done, the tribal leaders condone the act and protect the killers and the police connive the cover-up."[29] The lawyer and human rights activist Hina Jilani says, "The right to life of women in Pakistan is conditional on their obeying social norms and traditions."[30]

A July 2008 Turkish study by a team from Dicle University on honor killings in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, the predominantly Kurdish area of Turkey, has so far shown that little if any social stigma is attached to honor killing. It also comments that the practice is not related to a feudal societal structure, "there are also perpetrators who are well-educated university graduates. Of all those surveyed, 60 percent are either high school or university graduates or at the very least, literate."[31][32]

In contemporary times, the changing cultural and economic status of women has also been used to explain the occurrences of honor killings. Women in largely patriarchal cultures who have gained economic independence from their families go against their male-dominated culture. Some researchers argue that the shift towards greater responsibility for women and less for their fathers may cause their male family members to act in oppressive and sometimes violent manners to regain authority.[33]

This change of culture can also be seen to affect Western cultures such as Britain among South Asian and Middle Eastern communities where honor killings often target women seeking greater independence and adopting seemingly Western values. For families who trace their ancestry back to the Middle East or South Asia, honor killings have targeted women for wearing clothes that are considered Western, having a boyfriend, or refusing to accept an arranged marriage[34]

Fareena Alam, editor of a Muslim magazine, writes that honor killings which arise in Western cultures such as Britain are a tactic for immigrant families to cope with the alienating consequences of urbanization. Alam argues that immigrants remain close to the home culture and their relatives because it provides a safety net. She writes that

In villages "back home", a man's sphere of control was broader, with a large support system. In our cities full of strangers, there is virtually no control over who one's family members sit, talk or work with.

Alam argues that it is thus the attempt to regain control and the feelings of alienation that ultimately leads to an honor killing.[35]

Refusal of an arranged marriage or forced marriage is often a cause of an honor killing. The family that has prearranged the marriage risks disgrace if the marriage does not proceed[36][37][38] and the betrothed is indulged in a relationship with another individual without prior knowledge of the family members.

A woman attempting to obtain a divorce or separation without the consent of the husband/extended family can also be a trigger for honor killings. In cultures where marriages are arranged and goods are often exchanged between families, a woman's desire to seek a divorce is often viewed as an insult to the men who negotiated the deal.[15] By making their marital problems known outside the family, the women are seen as exposing the family to public dishonor.[12]

In certain cultures, an allegation against a woman can be enough to tarnish her family's reputation, and to trigger an honor killing: the family's fear of being ostracized by the community is enormous.[39][40][41]

In many cultures, victims of rape face severe violence, including honor killings, from their families and relatives. In many parts of the world, women who have been raped are considered to have brought 'dishonor' or 'disgrace' to their families.[42] This is especially the case if the victim becomes pregnant.[43]

Central to the code of honor, in many societies, is a woman's virginity, which must be preserved until marriage.[44] Suzanne Ruggi writes, "A woman's virginity is the property of the men around her, first her father, later a gift for her husband; a virtual dowry as she graduates to marriage."[45]

There is evidence that homosexuality can also be perceived as grounds for honor killing by relatives. It is not only same-sex sexual acts that trigger violence—behaviors that are regarded as inappropriate gender expression (e.g. male acting or dressing in a "feminine way") can also raise suspicion and lead to honor violence.[23]

In one case, a gay Jordanian man was shot and wounded by his brother.[46] In another case, in 2008, a homosexual Turkish-Kurdish student, Ahmet Yildiz, was shot outside a cafe and later died in the hospital. Sociologists have called this Turkey's first publicized gay honor killing.[47][48][49][50][51] In 2012, a 17-year-old gay youth was murdered by his father in Turkey in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.[52][53]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states that "claims made by LGBT persons often reveal exposure to physical and sexual violence, extended periods of detention, medical abuse, the threat of execution and honor killing."[54]

In many honor-based cultures, a woman maintains her honor through her modesty. If a man disrupts a woman's modesty, through dating her, having sex with her (especially if her virginity was lost), talking to her, the man has dishonored the woman, even if the relationship is consensual. Thus to restore the woman's lost honor, the male members of her family will often beat and kill the offender. Sometimes, violence extends to the offender's family members, since honor feud attacks are seen as family conflicts.[55]

Honor killings are often a result of strongly misogynistic views towards women and the position of women in society. In these traditionally male-dominated societies, women are dependent first on their father and then on their husbands, whom they are expected to obey. Women are viewed as property and not as individuals with their own agency. As such, they must submit to male authority figures in the family—failure to do so can result in extreme violence as punishment. Violence is seen as a way of ensuring compliance and preventing rebellion.[56][57] According to Shahid Khan, a professor at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan: "Women are considered the property of the males in their family irrespective of their class, ethnic, or religious group. The owner of the property has the right to decide its fate. The concept of ownership has turned women into a commodity which can be exchanged, bought and sold".[58] In such cultures, women are not allowed to take control over their bodies and sexuality: these are the property of the males of the family, the father (and other male relatives) who must ensure virginity until marriage; and then the husband to whom his wife's sexuality is subordinated—a woman must not undermine the ownership rights of her guardian by engaging in premarital sex or adultery.[23]

The concept of family honor is extremely important in many communities worldwide. The UN estimates that 5,000 women and girls are murdered each year in honor killings, which are widely reported in the Middle East and South Asia, but they occur in countries as varied as Brazil, Canada, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Egypt, Sweden, Syria, Uganda, United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries.[59][60] In honor cultures, managing reputation is an important social ethic. Men are expected to act tough and be intolerant of disrespect and women are expected to be loyal to the family and be chaste.[61] An insult to your personal or family honor must be met with a response, or the stain of dishonor can affect many others in the family and the wider community. Such acts often include female behaviors that are related to sex outside marriage or way of dressing, but may also include male homosexuality (like the emo killings in Iraq). The family may lose respect in the community and may be shunned by relatives. The only way they perceive that shame can be erased is through an honor killing.[56][57] The cultures in which honor killings take place are usually considered "collectivist cultures", where the family is more important than the individual, and individual autonomy is seen as a threat to the family and its honor.[62]

Though it may seem in a modern context that honor killings are tied to certain religious traditions, the data does not support this claim.[63][61] Research in Jordan found that teenagers who strongly endorsed honor killings in fact did not come from more religious households than teens who rejected it.[61] The ideology of honor is a cultural phenomenon that does not appear to be related to religion, be it Middle Eastern or Western countries, and honor killings likely have a long history in human societies which predate many modern religions.[64] In the US, a rural trend known as the "small-town effect" exhibit elevated incidents of argument-related homicides among white males, particularly in honor-oriented states in the South and the West, where everyone "knows your name and knows your shame." This is similarly observed in rural areas in other parts of the world.[61]

Honor cultures pervade in places of economic vulnerability and with the absence of the rule of law, where law enforcement cannot be counted on to protect them.[64] People then resort to their reputations to protect them from social exploitation and a man must "stand up for himself" and not rely on others to do so.[64] To lose your honor is to lose this protective barrier. Possessing honor in such a society can grant social status and economic and social opportunities. When honor is ruined, a person or family in an honor culture can be socially ostracized, face restricted economic opportunities, and have a difficult time finding a mate.[61][64]

Legal frameworks can encourage honor killings. Such laws include on one side leniency towards such killings, and on the other side criminalization of various behaviors, such as extramarital sex, "indecent" dressing in public places, or homosexual sexual acts, with these laws acting as a way of reassuring perpetrators of honor killings that people engaging in these behaviors deserve punishment.[65][66]

In the Roman Empire the Roman law Lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis implemented by Augustus Caesar permitted the murder of daughters and their lovers who committed adultery at the hands of their fathers and also permitted the murder of the adulterous wife's lover at the hand of her husband.[67]

The Napoleonic Code did not allow women to murder unfaithful husbands, while it permitted the murder of unfaithful women by their husbands.[68] The Napoleonic Code Article 324 which was passed in 1810 permitted the murders of an unfaithful wife and her lover at the hand of her husband.[69] It was abolished only in 1975. On 7 November 1975, Law no. 617/75 Article 17 repealed the 1810 French Penal Code Article 324. The 1810 penal code Article 324 passed by Napoleon was copied by Middle Eastern Arab countries. It inspired Jordan's Article 340 which permits the murder of a wife and her lover if caught in the act at the hands of her husband. France's 1810 Penal Code Article 324 also inspired the 1858 Ottoman Penal Code's Article 188, both the French Article 324 and Ottoman article 188 were drawn on to create Jordan's Article 340 which was retained even after a 1944 revision of Jordan's laws which did not touch public conduct and family law so Article 340 still applies to this day.[70][71][72] France's Mandate over Lebanon resulted in its penal code being imposed there in 1943–1944, with the French-inspired Lebanese law for adultery allowing the mere accusation of adultery against women resulting in a maximum punishment of two years in prison while men have to be caught in the act and not merely accused, and are punished with only one year in prison.

France's Article 324 inspired laws in other Arab countries such as:

• Algeria's 1991 Penal Code Article 279
• Egypt's 1937 Penal Code no. 58 Article 237
• Iraq's 1966 Penal Code Article 409
• Jordan's 1960 Penal Code no. 16 Article 340
• Kuwait's Penal Code Article 153
• Lebanon's Penal Code Articles 193, 252, 253 and 562
  • These were amended in 1983, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1999 and were eventually repealed by the Lebanese Parliament on 4 August 2011
• Libya's Penal Code Article 375
• Morocco's 1963 amended Penal Code Article 418
• Oman's Penal Code Article 252
• Palestine, which had two codes: Jordan's 1960 Penal Code 1960 in the West Bank and British Mandate Criminal Code Article 18 in the Gaza Strip
  • These were respectively repealed by Article 1 and Article 2 and both by Article 3 of the 2011 Law no. 71 which was signed on 5 May 2011 by president Mahmoud Abbas into the 10 October 2011 Official Gazette no. 91 applying in the Criminal Code of Palestine's Northern Governorates and Southern Governorates
• Syria's 1953 amended 1949 Penal Code Article 548
• Tunisia's 1991 Penal Code Article 207 (which was repealed)
• United Arab Emirate's law no.3/1978 Article 334
• Yemen's law no. 12/1994 Article 232

A similar situation is found in Pakistan's penal code, which was based on the 1860 code imported by Britain to rule colonial India,[63] where a man who killed his wife for "grave and sudden provocation" was given a lenient sentencing.[73] In 1990, Pakistan reformed this law to bring it in terms with the Shari'a, and the Pakistani Federal Shariat Court declared that "according to the teachings of Islam, provocation, no matter how grave and sudden it is, does not lessen the intensity of crime of murder". However, judges still sometimes hand down lenient sentences for honor killings, justified by still citing the British law's "grave and sudden provocation."[74][75]

Memorial plaque for Hatun Sürücü in Berlin, Germany. The Kurdish woman from Turkey was murdered at age of 23 by her brothers in an honor killing.

The issue of honor killings has risen to prominence in Europe in recent years, prompting the need to address the occurrence of honor killings. The 2009 European Parliamentary Assembly noted this in their Resolution 1681 which noted the dire need to address honor crimes. The resolution stated that:

On so-called 'honor crimes', the Parliamentary Assembly notes that the problem, far from diminishing, has worsened, including in Europe. It mainly affects women, who are its most frequent victims, both in Europe and the rest of the world, especially in patriarchal and fundamentalist communities and societies. For this reason, it asked the Council of Europe member states to 'draw up and put into effect national action plans to combat violence against women, including violence committed in the name of so-called 'honor', if they have not already done so.[98]

The Honour Based Violence Awareness Network (HBVA) writes:[99]

Certain Eastern European countries have recorded cases of HBV [honor-based violence] within the indigenous populations, such as Albania and Chechnya, and there have been acts of 'honor' killings within living memory within Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Greece.

The majority of honor killings are committed by first generation immigrants against second and third generation to prevent them from becoming Westernized.[100]

According to a study investigating 67 honor killings in Europe 1989-2009 by Phyllis Chesler, 96% of honor murder perpetrators in Europe were Muslim and 68% of victims were tortured before they died.[101]

Honor-based violence has a long tradition in Albania, and although it is much rarer today than it was in the past, it still exists. The Kanun is a set of traditional Albanian laws and customs. Honor (in Albanian: Nderi) is one of the four pillars on which the Kanun is based. Honor crimes happen, especially in northern Albania. In Albania (and in other parts of the Balkans) the phenomenon of blood feuds between males was more common historically than honor killings of females, but honor-based violence against women and girls also has a tradition.[56][102]

In 2011, Belgium held its first honor killing trial, in which four Pakistani family members were found guilty of killing their daughter and sibling, Sadia Sheikh.[103]

As a legacy of the very influential Napoleonic Code, before 1997, Belgian law provided for mitigating circumstances in the case of a killing or an assault against a spouse caught in the act of adultery.[104][105] (Adultery itself was decriminalized in Belgium in 1987.)[106]

Ghazala Khan was shot and killed in Denmark in September 2005, by her brother, after she had married against the will of the family. She was of Pakistani origin. Her murder was ordered by her father to save her family's 'honor' and several relatives were involved. Sentences considered harsh by Danish standards were handed out to all nine accused members of her family,[107] and permanent banishment was ordered for those who were not Danish citizens.

The first case of an honor killing in Finland happened in 2015 when an Iraqi man was sentenced to two years in prison for planning to murder his 16-year-old sister. He was also sentenced for assault. He and their mother had forbidden his sister from meeting people her own age and leaving the home beyond going to school.[108]

In 2019, a 48-year-old Iraqi attempted to murder his 40-year-old ex-wife because she was associated with other men. The stabbing was done at an educational institution where both were studying. When she turned around, he stabbed her in the back. She was seriously wounded but survived. According to the accused, he was ridiculed by his friends because the couple had arrived in Finland in 2015 and divorced shortly after arriving.[109]

France has a large immigrant community from North Africa (especially from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) and honor-based violence occurs in this community.[110] A 2009 report by the Council of Europe cited the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France, and Norway as countries where honor crimes and honor killings occur.[111]

France traditionally provided for leniency concerning honor crimes, particularly when they were committed against women who had committed adultery. The Napoleonic Code of 1804, established under Napoleon Bonaparte, is one of the origins of the legal leniency concerning adultery-related killings in a variety of legal systems in several countries around the world. Under this code, a man who killed his wife after she had been caught in the act of adultery could not be charged with premeditated murder—although he could be charged with other lesser offenses. This defense was available only for a husband, not for a wife. The Napoleonic Code has been very influential, and many countries, inspired by it, provided for lesser penalties or even acquittal for such crimes. This can be seen in the criminal codes of many former French colonies.[112][113]

Investigating criminal records for partner homicides from the years 1996–2005, the German Federal Criminal Police Office concluded that there were about 12 cases of honor killings in Germany per year, including cases involving collective family honor and individual male honor, out of an average about 700 annual homicides. An accompanying study of all homicides in Baden-Württemberg shows that men from Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Albania have a between three and five times overrepresentation for partner homicides, both honor and non-honor-related. The causes for the higher rate were given as low education and social status of these groups along with cultural traditions of violence against women.[114]

In 2005 Der Spiegel reported: "In the past four months, six Muslim women living in Berlin have been killed by family members". The article went on to cover the case of Hatun Sürücü, a Turkish-Kurdish woman who was killed by her brother for not staying with the husband she was forced to marry, and for "living like a German". Precise statistics on how many women die every year in such honor killings are hard to come by, as many crimes are never reported, said Myria Boehmecke of the Tübingen-based women's group Terre des Femmes. The group tries to protect Muslim girls and women from oppressive families. The Turkish women's organization Papatya has documented 40 instances of honor killings in Germany since 1996.[115][116] Hatun Sürücü's brother was convicted of murder and jailed for nine years and three months by a German court in 2006.[117] In 2001, Turkish immigrant Mikdat Sacin murdered his 18-year-old daughter Funda Sacin as she refused to marry her cousin from Ankara, Turkey in a forced marriage and secretly married her boyfriend instead. Mikdat S. has fled to his home country Turkey and has yet to come before a court.[118] In 2005, twenty-five-year-old Turkish man Ali Karabey murdered his sister Gönul Karabey for having a German boyfriend. "She disgraced the family", he testified and he felt called upon to punish her with death. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a German court in 2006.[119]

In 2008, Afghan Morsal Obeidi was murdered by her brother in Hamburg.[120] In 2010, Turkish immigrant and devout Muslim Mehmet Özkan murdered his 15-year-old daughter Büsra Özkan because she refused to live an Islamic lifestyle and would chat with a young man she recently met.[121][122] In 2016 a Kurdish Yazidi woman was shot dead at her wedding in Hannover for allegedly refusing to marry her cousin in a forced marriage.[123]

Similar to other Southern/Mediterranean European areas, the honor was traditionally important in Italy. Indeed, until 1981, the Criminal Code provided for mitigating circumstances for such killings; until 1981 the law read: "Art. 587: He who causes the death of a spouse, daughter, or sister upon discovering her in illegitimate carnal relations and in the heat of passion caused by the offense to his honor or that of his family will be sentenced to three to seven years. The same sentence shall apply to whom, in the above circumstances, causes the death of the person involved in illegitimate carnal relations with his spouse, daughter, or sister."[124][125] Traditionally, honor crimes used to be more prevalent in Southern Italy.[93][126]

In 1546, Isabella di Morra, a young poet from Valsinni, Matera, was stabbed to death by her brothers for a suspected affair with a married nobleman, whom they also murdered.[127]

In 2006, twenty-year-old Hina Saleem, a Pakistani woman who lived in Brescia, Italy, was murdered by her father who claimed he was "saving the family's honour". She had refused an arranged marriage, and was living with her Italian boyfriend.[128][129]

In 2009, in Pordenone, Italy, Sanaa Dafani, an 18-year-old girl of Moroccan origin, was murdered by her father because she had a relationship with an Italian man.[130][131]

In 2011, in Cerignola, Italy, a man stabbed his brother 19 times because his homosexuality was a "dishonour to the family".[132]

Anooshe Sediq Ghulam was a 22-year-old Afghan refugee in Norway, who was killed by her husband in an honor killing in 2002. She had reported her husband to the police for domestic violence and was seeking a divorce.

The Swedish National Police Board and the Swedish Prosecution Authority define honor-related crime as crimes against a relative who, according to the perpetrator and his family's point of view, has dishonored the family. These crimes are intended to prevent the family from honor being damaged or to restore damaged or lost family honor.[133]

The most serious honor-related crime is often organized and deliberate and not limited to killing. Incidents include torture, forced suicides, forced marriages, rapes, kidnapping, assault, mortal threats, extortion, and protecting a criminal.[133]

The 26-year-old Iraqi Kurdish woman Fadime Şahindal was killed by her father in 2002 in Uppsala in Sweden.[134][135][136] Kurdish organizations were criticized by prime minister Göran Persson for not doing enough to prevent honor killings.[135] Pela Atroshi was a Kurdish girl who was shot by her uncle in an honor killing in Iraqi Kurdistan.[137] The murder of Pela and Fadime gave rise to the formation of GAPF (the acronym stands for Never Forget Pela and Fadime), a politically and religiously independent and secular nonprofit organization working against honor-related violence and oppression. The organization's name is taken from Pela Atroshi and Fadime Şahindal which are Sweden's best-known and high-profile cases of honor killings.[136][138]

The honor killing of Sara, an Iraqi Kurdish girl, was the first publicized honor killing in Sweden.[136][139][140] Sara was killed by her brother and cousin when she was 15 years old. According to statements by her mother, Sara's brother believed that she "was a whore who slept with Swedish boys", and that even though he himself also slept with Swedish girls that "was different, because he is a male, and he would not even think of sleeping with Iraqi girls, only with Swedish girls, with whores".[141] These three prominent cases brought the notion of honor killings into Swedish discourse.[135]

In 2016 ten out of the 105 murder cases were honor killings, with 6 females and 4 male victims. The 6 female victims represented a third of the 18 murders of women in Sweden that year.[142]

In May 2019 the court of appeals found a man guilty of murdering his wife in front of the Afghan couple's children who were minor at the time. He was sentenced to life in prison, deportation and a lifetime ban against returning to Sweden.[143]

In December 2020, a 47-year-old Afghan man and his two sons were found guilty by Gällivare district court of honor killing a 20-year-old man together in Kiruna. They suspected that the victim had a relationship with the man's ex-wife.[144]

In 2010, a 16-year-old Pakistani girl was killed near Zürich, Switzerland, by her father who was dissatisfied with both her lifestyle and her Christian boyfriend.[145][146] In 2014, a forty-two-year-old Syrian Kurd killed his wife (and cousin) because she had a boyfriend and wanted to live separately. The suspect defended himself by claiming that honor killing is part of Kurdish culture.[147][148]

Every year in the United Kingdom (UK), officials estimates that at least a dozen women are victims of honor killings, almost exclusively within Asian and Middle Eastern families.[149] Often, cases cannot be resolved due to the unwillingness of families, relatives and communities to testify. A 2006 BBC poll for the Asian network in the UK found that one in ten of the 500 young Asians polled said that they could condone the killing of someone who had dishonored their families.[150] In the UK, in December 2005, Nazir Afzal, Director, west London, of Britain's Crown Prosecution Service, stated that the United Kingdom has seen "at least a dozen honour killings" between 2004 and 2005.[151]

In 2010, Britain saw a 47% rise in the number of honor-related crimes. Data from police agencies in the UK report 2283 cases in 2010, and an estimated 500 more from jurisdictions that did not provide reports. These "honor-related crimes" also include house arrests and other parental punishments.[152] Most of the attacks were conducted in cities that had high immigrant populations.[153]

One of the earliest prosecuted cases in the UK was that of 19-year-old Rukhsana Naz, who was forced to marry her second cousin from Pakistan at age 15. She embarked on an affair with the man she had really wanted to marry, fell pregnant and was murdered by her mother and brother for refusing to terminate her pregnancy and remain in her forced marriage.[154]

Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old Iraqi Kurdish woman from Mitcham, south London, was killed in 2006, in a murder orchestrated by her father, uncle and cousins.[155] Her life and murder were presented in a documentary called Banaz: A Love Story, directed and produced by Deeyah Khan. The investigation into her disappearance and murder was dramatised in the 2020, two-part ITV mini-series, Honour, starring Keeley Hawes.[156]

Another well-known case was Heshu Yones, stabbed to death by her Kurdish father in London in 2002, because he thought she'd become too "westernized" and was involved in a relationship of which he didn't approve.[157] Other examples include the killing of Tulay Goren, a Kurdish Shia Muslim girl who immigrated with her family from Turkey,[158] and Samaira Nazir (Pakistani Muslim).[158]

A highly publicized case was that of Shafilea Iftikhar Ahmed, a 17-year-old British Pakistani girl from Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire, who was murdered in 2003 by her parents.[159] However, a lesser-known case is that of Gurmeet Singh Ubhi, a Sikh man who, in February 2011, was found guilty of the murder of his 24-year-old daughter, Amrit Kaur Ubhi in 2010.[160] Ubhi was found to have murdered his daughter because he disapproved of her being "too westernized". Likewise, he also disapproved of the fact that she was dating a non-Sikh man.[161] In 2012, the UK had the first white victim of an honor killing: 17-year-old Laura Wilson was killed by her Asian boyfriend, Ashtiaq Ashgar, because she revealed details of their relationship to his family, challenging traditional cultural values of the Asian family. Laura Wilson's mother said, "I honestly think it was an honor killing for putting shame on the family. They needed to shut Laura up and they did." Wilson was repeatedly knifed to death as she walked along a canal in Rotherham.[162]

In 2013, Mohammed Inayat was jailed for killing his wife and injuring three daughters by setting his house on fire in Birmingham. Inayat wanted to stop his daughter from flying to Dubai to marry her boyfriend, because he believed the marriage would dishonor his family.[163]

In 2013, the husband of Syrian-born 25-year-old Rania Alayed was jailed for her murder. His two brothers were also jailed for perverting the course of justice in relation to the disposal of her body, which has never been found. According to the prosecution, the motive for the murder was that she had become "too westernised" and was "establishing an independent life".[164][165][166]

Honor killings in Maghreb are not as common as in the Asian countries of the Middle East and South Asia, but they do occur.[15][167] In Libya, they are particularly committed against rape victims.[168]

In a poll with respondents across countries in the Arab world such as Algeria (27%), Morocco (25%), Sudan (14%), Jordan (21%), Tunisia (8%), Lebanon (8%), and the Palestinian territory of the West Bank (8%), it was found that honor killings were more acceptable than homosexuality.[169]

Honor killings in Egypt occur due to reasons such as a woman meeting an unrelated man, even if this is only an allegation; or adultery (real or suspected). The exact number of honor killings is not known, but a report in 1995 estimated about 52 honor killings that year.[170] In 2013, a woman and her two daughters were murdered by 10 male relatives, who strangled and beat them, and then threw their bodies in the Nile. Honor killings are illegal in Egypt and five of the ten men were arrested.[171][172]

In Iran, there have been a number of recorded cases of honor killings that made international headlines.[173][174][175]

In 2008, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has stated that honor killings are a serious concern in Iraq, particularly well documented in Iraqi Kurdistan.[176] There are conflicting estimates on the number of honor killings in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Free Women's Organization of Kurdistan (FWOK) released a statement on International Women's Day 2015 noting that "6,082 women were killed or forced to commit suicide during the past year in Iraqi Kurdistan, which is almost equal to the number of the Peshmerga martyred fighting Islamic State (IS)," and that a large number of women were victims of honor killings or enforced suicide—mostly self-immolation or hanging.[177] According to Zhin Woman magazine, published in December 2015 in Sulaimaniya, from January to August 2015, in the three main Kurdish provinces of Sulaimaniya, Erbil, and Duhok, there were a total of 122 cases of honor killings and 124 women's suicides.[178] According to KRG Ministry of Interior's Directorate-General of Countering Violence Committed Against Women, only 14 women were victims of "so-called" honor killings in 2017. The practice is reportedly declining due to increased numbers of women's rights organizations and government initiatives.[179] About 500 honor killings per year are reported in hospitals in Iraqi Kurdistan, although real numbers are likely higher.[180] It is speculated that alone in Erbil there is one honor killing per day.[181] The UNAMI reported that at least 534 honor killings occurred between January and April 2006 in the Kurdish Governorates.[182] It is claimed that many deaths are reported as "female suicides" in order to conceal honor-related crimes.[79] Aso Kamal of the Doaa Network Against Violence claimed that they have estimated that there were more than 12,000 honor killings in Iraqi Kurdistan from 1991 to 2007. He also said that the government figures are much lower, and show a decline in recent years, and Kurdish law has mandated since 2008 that an honor killing be treated like any other murder.[183] Honor killings and other forms of violence against women have increased since the creation of Iraqi Kurdistan, and "both the KDP and PUK claimed that women's oppression, including 'honor killings', are part of Kurdish 'tribal and Islamic culture'".[184] The honor killing and self-immolation condoned or tolerated by the Kurdish administration in Iraqi Kurdistan has been labeled as "gendercide" by Mojab (2003).[185]

As many as 133 women were killed in the Iraqi city of Basra alone in 2006. Seventy-nine were killed for violation of "Islamic teachings" and 47 for honor, according to IRIN, the news branch of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Amnesty International says that armed groups, not the government, also kill politically active women and those who did not follow a strict dress code, as well as women who are perceived as human rights defenders.[186] Seventeen-year-old Du'a Khalil Aswad, an Iraqi girl of the Yazidi faith, was stoned to death in front of a mob of about 2,000 men in 2007, possibly because she was allegedly planning to convert to Islam.[187] A video of the brutal incident was released on the Internet. According to the crowd she had "shamed herself and her family" for failing to return home one night and there were suspicions of her converting to Islam to marry her boyfriend, who was in hiding in fear of his own safety.[188]

A 2008 report of the National Council of Family Affairs in Jordan, an NGO affiliated with the Queen of Jordan, indicated that the National Forensic Medicine Center recorded 120 murdered women in 2006, with 18 cases classified officially as crimes of honor.[189] In 2013, the BBC cited estimates by the National Council of Family Affairs in Jordan, an NGO, that as many as 50 Jordanian women and girls had been killed in the preceding 13 years. But the BBC indicated "the real figure" was probably "far higher," because "most honor killings go unreported."[190]

Men used to receive reduced sentences for killing their wives or female family members if they are deemed to have brought dishonor to their family. Families often get sons under the age of 16—legally minors—to commit honor killings; the juvenile law allows convicted minors to serve time in a juvenile detention center and be released with a clean criminal record at the age of 16. Rana Husseini, a leading journalist on the topic of honor killings, states that "under the existing law, people found guilty of committing honor killings often receive sentences as light as six months in prison".[191] According to UNICEF, there are an average of 23 honor killings per year in Jordan.[192]

On 1 August 2017, article 98 in the penal codes were amended to exclude honor criminals from receiving lenient punishments for being in "a state of great fury". However, article 340 which sees reduced penalties when a man attacks or kills a female relative having found her in the act of "adultery", is still in effect.[193]

A 2013 survey of "856 ninth-graders—average age of 15—from a range of secondary schools across Amman—including private and state, mixed-sex and single-gender" showed that attitudes favoring honor killings are present in the "next generation" Jordanians: "In total, 33.4% of all respondents either "agreed" or "strongly agreed" with situations depicting honor killings. Boys were more than twice as likely to support honor killings: 46.1% of boys and 22.1% of girls agreed with at least two honor killing situations in the questionnaire." The parents' education was found to be a significant correlation: "61% of teenagers from the lowest level of educational background showed supportive attitudes towards honor killing, as opposed to only 21.1% where at least one family member has a university degree."[194][195]

Kuwait is relatively liberal and honor killings are rare, but not unheard of—in 2006 a young woman died in an honor killing committed by her brothers. In 2008, a girl was given police protection after reporting that her family intended to kill her for having an affair with a man.

There are no exact official numbers about honor killings of women in Lebanon; many honor killings are arranged to look like accidents, but the figure is believed to be 40 to 50 per year. A 2007 report by Amnesty International said that the Lebanese media in 2001 reported 2 or 3 honor killings per month in Lebanon, although the number is believed to be higher by other independent sources.

On 4 August 2011, however, the Lebanese Parliament agreed by a majority to abolish Article 562, which for the past years had worked as an excuse to commute the sentence given for honor killing.[196][197]

According to UNICEF estimates in 1999, two-thirds of all murders in the Palestinian territories were likely honor killings.[192]

In 2005, 22-year-old Faten Habash, a Christian from West Bank, was said to have dishonored her family by falling for a young Muslim man, Samer. Following their thwarted attempts to elope to Jordan, she suffered her relatives' wrath after rejecting the options of either marrying her cousin or becoming a nun in Rome. She had spent a period of time in hospital recovering from a broken pelvis and various other injuries caused by an earlier beating by her father and other family members. Still fearing her family after her release from the hospital, she approached a powerful Bedouin tribe, which took her under its care. Her father then wept and gave his word that he would not harm her. She returned to him, only to be bludgeoned to death with an iron bar days later.[198]

The Palestinian Authority, using a clause in the Jordanian penal code still in effect in the West Bank as of 2011, exempted men from punishment for killing a female relative if she has brought dishonor to the family.[199] The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights has reported 29 women were killed 2007–2010, whereas 13 women were killed in 2011 and 12 in the first seven months of 2012.[200] According to a PA Ministry of Women's Affairs report[201] the rate of 'Honor Killings' went up by 100% in 2013, "reporting the number of 'honor killing' victims for 2013 at 27".[202]

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, issued a decree in May 2014 under which the exemption of men was abolished in cases of honor killings.[203]

The death of Israa Ghrayeb took place on 22 August 2019 in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.[204] Israa Ghrayeb, 21 years old, was reportedly beaten to death by her brother because she posted a selfie with her partner a day before they were supposed to get engaged.[204]

In 2008 a woman was killed in Saudi Arabia by her father for "chatting" with a man on Facebook. The killing became public only when a Saudi cleric referred to the case, to criticize Facebook for the strife it caused.[205]

In 2019 an apparent attempt at the "honor killing" of Saudi Rahaf Mohammed was thwarted both by the successful online outreach made by Rahaf Mohammed and by the international media and diplomatic response to her online pleas.[206]

The 1980 film Death of a Princess implies that the execution of Princess Misha'al in 1977 was actually an honor killing, rather than a sentence handed down by a court.[207]

Some estimates suggest that more than 200 honor killings occur every year in Syria.[208] The Syrian civil war has been reported as leading to an increase in honor killings in the country, mainly due to the common occurrence of war rape, which led to the stigmatization of victims by their relatives and communities, and in turn to honor killings.[209]

A report compiled by the Council of Europe estimated that over 200 women were killed in honor killings in Turkey in 2007.[210] A June 2008 report by the Turkish Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate said that in Istanbul alone there was one honor killing every week, and reported over 1,000 during the previous five years. It added that metropolitan cities were the location of many of these, due to growing immigration to these cities from the East.[211][212] The mass migration during the past decades of rural population from Southeastern Turkey to big cities in Western Turkey has resulted in relatively more developed cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Bursa having the highest numbers of reported honor killings.[213]

A report by UNFPA identified the following situations as being common triggers for honor killings: a married woman having an extra-marital relationship; a married woman running away with a man; a married woman getting separated or divorced; a divorced woman having a relationship with another man; a young unmarried girl having a relationship; a young unmarried girl running away with a man; a woman (married or unmarried) being kidnapped and/or raped.[80]

In Turkey, young boys are often ordered by other family members to commit the honor killing, so that they can get a shorter jail sentence (because they are minors).[214] Forced suicides—where the victim who is deemed to have 'dishonored' the family is ordered to commit suicide in an attempt by the perpetrator to avoid legal consequences—also take place in Turkey, especially in Batman in southeastern Turkey, which has been nicknamed "Suicide City".[215][216][217]

In 2009 a Turkish news agency reported that a 2-day-old boy who was born out of wedlock had been killed for honor in Istanbul. The maternal grandmother of the infant, along with six other persons, including a doctor who had reportedly accepted a bribe to not report the birth, were arrested. The grandmother is suspected of fatally suffocating the infant. The child's mother, 25, was also arrested; she stated that her family had decided to kill the child.[218]

In 2010 a 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives for befriending boys in Southeast Turkey; her corpse was found 40 days after she went missing.[219] Ahmet Yildiz, 26, a Turkish-Kurdish physics student who represented his country at an international gay conference in the United States in 2008, was shot dead leaving a cafe in Istanbul.[47][48][49] Ahmet Yildiz who came from a deeply religious family was believed to have been the victim of the country's first gay honor killing.[220]

Honor killings continue to receive some support in the conservative regions of Turkey. In 2005, A small survey in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey found that, when asked the appropriate punishment for a woman who has committed adultery, 37% of respondents said she should be killed, while 21% said her nose or ears should be cut off.[221] A July 2008 Turkish study by a team from Dicle University on honor killings in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, the predominantly Kurdish area of Turkey, has so far shown that little if any social stigma is attached to honor killing. It also comments that the practice is not related to a feudal societal structure, "there are also perpetrators who are well-educated university graduates. Of all those surveyed, 60 percent are either high school or university graduates or at the very least, literate."[31][32] There are well-documented cases, where Turkish courts have sentenced whole families to life imprisonment for an honor killing. The most recent was on 13 January 2009, where a Turkish Court sentenced five members of the same Kurdish family to life imprisonment for the honor killing of Naile Erdas, a 16-year-old girl who got pregnant as a result of rape.[222][223]

Honor killings also affect gay people. In 2008 a man had to flee from Turkey after his Kurdish boyfriend was killed by his own father.[47][48][224][225]

Honor killings are common in Yemen. In some parts of the country, traditional tribal customs forbid contact between men and women before marriage.[226] Yemeni society is strongly male dominated, Yemen being ranked last of 135 countries in the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report.[227] It was estimated that in 1997 about 400 women and girls died in honor killings in Yemen.[228] In 2013, a 15-year-old girl was killed by her father, who burned her to death, because she talked to her fiancé before the wedding.[226][229]

In 2012, Afghanistan recorded 240 cases of honor killings, but the total number is believed to be much higher. Of the reported honor killings, 21% were committed by the victims' husbands, 7% by their brothers, 4% by their fathers, and the rest by other relatives.[230][231]

In May 2017, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan concluded that the vast majority of cases involving honor killings and murders of women, perpetrators were not punished. Of the 280 recorded cases in the January 2016-December 2017 time span, 50 cases ended in a conviction. UNAMA concluded that the vast majority offences could be committed with impunity.[232]

Honor killings have been reported in northern regions of India, mainly in the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The main reason for these crimes is a result of people marrying without their family's acceptance, especially when it is between members of two different castes or religious groups, or, more particular to northwestern India, between members of the same gotra, or exogamous clan. In contrast, honor killings are less prevalent but are not completely non-existent[233][234][235] the western Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. In 2015 National Crime Records Bureau data shows, 251 honor killings were reported in India, activists consider this number to be a significant undercount due to the misreporting of killings under general murders.[236] According to the survey done by AIDWA, over 30 percent of the total honor killings in the country takes place in Western Uttar Pradesh.[237] In some other parts of India, notably West Bengal, honor killings completely ceased about a century ago, largely due to the activism and influence of reformists such as Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Vidyasagar and Raja Ram Mohan Roy.[238]

Haryana has had many incidences of honor killings, mainly among Meenas, Rajputs and Jats.[239][240] Role of khap panchayats (caste councils of village elders) has been questioned.[241] Madhu Kishwar, a professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, claims that only 2% to 3% honor killings are related to gotra killings by the khap or caste panchayats, rest are done by the families. "Will you ban families? there are plenty of tyrannical police officials, plenty of incompetent and corrupt judges in India who pass very retrogressive judgments, but no one says ban the police and the law courts. By what right do they demand a ban on khaps, simply because some members have undemocratic views? Educated elite in India don't know anything about the vital role played by these age-old institutions of self-governance."[242][243] In March 2010, Karnal district court ordered the execution of five perpetrators of an honor killing and imprisoning for life the khap (local caste-based council) chief who ordered the killings of Manoj Banwala (23) and Babli (19), a man and woman of the same gotra who eloped and married in June 2007. Despite having been given police protection on court orders, they were kidnapped; their mutilated bodies were found a week later in an irrigation canal.[244][245][246] In 2013, a young couple who were planning to marry were murdered in Garnauthi village, Haryana, due to having a love affair. The woman, Nidhi, was beaten to death and the man, Dharmender, was dismembered alive. People in the village and neighbouring villages approved of the killings.[247]

The Indian state of Punjab also has a large number of honor killings. According to data compiled by the Punjab Police, 34 honor killings were reported in the state between 2008 and 2010: 10 in 2008, 20 in 2009, and four in 2010.[248] Bhagalpur in the eastern Indian state of Bihar has also been notorious for honor killings.[249] Jagir Kaur a prominent Sikh leader was also charged with allegation of Honor Killing of her daughter and she was sent to jail .[250] However murder charges were dropped later by court .[251] Recent cases include a 16-year-old girl, Imrana, from Bhojpur who was set on fire inside her house in a case of what the police called 'moral vigilantism'. The victim had screamed for help for about 20 minutes before neighbors arrived, only to find her smoldering body. She was admitted to a local hospital, where she later died from her injuries.[252] In May 2008, Jayvirsingh Bhadodiya shot his daughter Vandana Bhadodiya and struck her on the head with an axe.[253] Honor killings occur even in Delhi.[254][255]

Honor killings take place in Rajasthan, too.[256][257][258] In June 2012, a man chopped off his 20-year-old daughter's head with a sword in Rajasthan after learning that she was dating men.[259][260] According to police officer, "Omkar Singh told the police that his daughter Manju had relations with several men. He had asked her to mend her ways several times in the past. However, she did not pay heed. Out of pure rage, he chopped off her head with the sword".[261]

In 1990 the National Commission for Women set up a statutory body to address the issues of honor killings among some ethnic groups in North India. This body reviewed constitutional, legal, and other provisions as well as challenges women face. The NCW's activism has contributed significantly towards the reduction of honor killings in rural areas of North India.[262] According to Pakistani activists Hina Jilani and Eman M Ahmed, Indian women are considerably better protected against honor killings by Indian law and government than Pakistani women, and they have suggested that governments of countries affected by honor killings use Indian law as a model to prevent honor killings in their respective societies.[263]

In June 2010, scrutinizing the increasing number of honor killings, the Supreme Court of India demanded responses about honor killing prevention from the federal government and the state governments of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.[264]

Alarmed by the rise of honor killings, the Government planned to bring a bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament July 2010 to provide for deterrent punishment for 'honor' killings.[265]

In 2000 Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu (nicknamed Jassi), a Canadian Punjabi who married rickshaw driver Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu (nicknamed Mithu) against her family's wishes, was brutally murdered in India following orders from her mother and uncle in Canada so that "the family honor was restored". Her body was found in an irrigation canal. Mithu was kidnapped, beaten and left to die, but survived.[266]

Tamil Nadu has had 192 cases of honor killings, most relating to marriages between a woman higher in the caste hierarchy than the man she marries. These marriages in particular are considered "dishonorable" since the women of the caste are responsible for its continuation, by having children. According to Kathir of anti-caste group Evidence, "There is this firm belief that if I get my daughter married to someone of my own caste, I have succeeded in safeguarding it.  And if not, one’s prestige is challenged, and then there is barbaric anger".[267] In 2016, Chinnaswamy, a member of the Thevar community dominant in the southern part of the state, ordered the killing of his daughter Kausalya and her husband Shankar, belonging to the Dalit Pallar community. The crime, taking place at Udumalaipettai Bus station, was caught on video with Shankar hacked to death in broad daylight, while his wife barely escaped alive. The accused in the case were at first sentenced to death, but later Chinnaswamy was ruled "not guilty" and the other killer's sentences were reduced.[268]

Honor killings have been reported in Nepal, with much of them linked with the caste system that is deeply rooted in Nepalese tradition. Most honor killings are reportedly undetected.[269] Gender-based violence has been the deadliest form of violence in Nepal as of 2017, which includes honor killings[270] and have been rising in the country as of 2012.[271][272]

In Pakistan honor killings are known locally as karo-kari. An Amnesty International report noted "the failure of the authorities to prevent these killings by investigating and punishing the perpetrators."[273] Official data put the number of women killed in honor killings in 2015 at nearly 1,100.[274] Recent cases include that of three teenage girls who were buried alive after refusing arranged marriages.[275] Another case was that of Taslim Khatoon Solangi, 17, of Hajna Shah village in Khairpur district, which was widely reported after her father, 57-year-old Gul Sher Solangi, publicized the case. He alleged his eight-months-pregnant daughter was tortured and killed on 7 March on the orders of her father-in-law, who accused her of carrying a child conceived out of wedlock.[276][277] Statistically, honor killings have a high level of support in Pakistan's rural society, despite widespread condemnation from human rights groups.[278] In 2002 alone over 382 people, about 245 women and 137 men, became victims of honor killings in the Sindh province of Pakistan.[279] Over the course of six years, more than 4,000 women have died as victims of honor killings in Pakistan from 1999 to 2004.[280] In 2005 the average annual number of honor killings for the whole nation was stated to be more than 1,000 per year.[281]

A 2009 study by Muazzam Nasrullah et al. reported a total of 1,957 honor crime victims reported in Pakistan's newspapers from 2004 to 2007.[282] Of those killed, 18% were below the age of 18 years, and 88% were married. Husbands, brothers, and close relatives were direct perpetrators of 79% of the honor crimes reported by mainstream media. The method used for honor crime included firearms (most common), stabbing, axe, and strangulation.[282]

According to women's rights advocates, "the concepts of women as property, and of honor, are so deeply entrenched in the social, political and economic fabric of Pakistan that the government mostly ignores the regular occurrences of women being killed and maimed by their families."[283] Frequently, women killed in honor killings are recorded as having committed suicide or died in accidents.[283] Savitri Goonesekere states that Islamic leaders in Pakistan use religious justifications for sanctioning honor killings.[263]

On 27 May 2014, a pregnant woman was stoned to death by her own family in front of a Pakistani high court for marrying the man she loved. "I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it," the father reportedly told the police investigator.[284] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif described the stoning as "totally unacceptable," and ordered the chief minister of Punjab province to provide an immediate report. He demanded to know why police did nothing, despite the killing taking place outside one of the country's top courts, in the presence of police.[285] Scholars suggest that the Islamic law doctrine of Qisas and Diyya encourages honor killings, particularly against females, as well as allows the murderer to go unpunished.[286][287][288] In 2016, Pakistan repealed the loophole which allowed the perpetrators of honor killings to avoid punishment by seeking forgiveness for the crime from another family member, and thus be legally pardoned.[289]

In January 2017 a Pakistani mother was sentenced to death for killing her daughter that had married against her family's wishes.[290] On 14 May 2020, two women in North Waziristan province of Pakistan were murdered and buried by their family members in an act of honor killing, after a video of the women kissing a man circulated on social media platforms.[291]

Honor killing is rare in modern East Asia. Only one case in China is considered by some as an honor killing. On 15 April 2017, Ma Ruibao, a Hui resident of Zhongning County in Ningxia, murdered his daughter,, her boyfriend asurnamed Li and the taxi driver who drove the couple home. Ma Ruibao confessed that he murdered his daughter and Li on April 15 because he was not "satisfied" with Li. Though some civilian speculators believed it to be an honour killing, Ding Liyu, a police officer from the Qingtongxia police bureau, said he did not know what an honor killing is and why it has anything to do with the murder.[292]

Throughout the 20th century, husbands have used the "legitimate defense of their honor" (legítima defesa da honra) as justification for adultery-related killings in court cases. Although this defense was not explicitly stipulated in the 20th-century Criminal Code, it has been successfully pleaded by lawyers throughout the 20th century, in particular in the interior of the country, though less so in the coastal big cities. In 1991 Brazil's Supreme Court explicitly rejected the "honor defense" as having no basis in Brazilian law.[293][294][295]

Honor killings have become such a pressing issue in Canada that the Canadian citizenship study guide mentions it specifically, saying, "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honor killings', female genital mutilation, forced marriage or other gender-based violence."[296]

Canada has been host to a number of high-profile killings, including the murder of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu,[297] the murder of Amandeep Atwal,[298] the double murder of Khatera Sadiqi and her fiancé,[296] and the Shafia family murders.[296][299]

A 2007 study by Dr. Amin Muhammad and Dr. Sujay Patel of Memorial University, Canada, investigated how the practice of honor killings has been brought to Canada. The report explained that "When people come and settle in Canada they can bring their traditions and forcefully follow them. In some cultures, people feel that some boundaries are never to be crossed, and if someone would violate those practices or go against them, then killing is justified to them." The report noted that "In different cultures, they can get away without being punished—the courts actually sanction them under religious contexts". The report also said that the people who commit these crimes are usually mentally ill and that the mental health aspect is often ignored by Western observers because of a lack of understanding of the insufficiently developed state of mental healthcare in developing countries in which honor killings are prevalent.[300]

Phyllis Chesler argues that the U.S., as well as Canada, do not have proper measures in place to fight against honor killings, and they do not recognize these murders as a specific form of violence, distinct from other domestic murders, due to fear of being labeled "culturally insensitive". According to her, this often prevents government officials in the United States and the media from identifying and accurately reporting these incidents as "honor killings" when they occur. Failing to accurately describe the problem makes it more difficult to develop public policies to address it, she argues.

She also writes that, although there are not many cases of honor killing within the United States, the overwhelming majority of honor killings are perpetrated by Muslims against Muslims (90% of honor killings known to have taken place in Europe and the United States from 1998 to 2008). In these documented cases the victims were murdered because they were believed to have acted in a way that was against the religion of the family. In every case, the perpetrators view their victims as having violated rules of religious conduct and they act without remorse.

Several honor killings have occurred in the U.S. during recent years. In 1989, in St. Louis, Missouri, 16-year-old Palestina "Tina" Isa was murdered by her Palestinian father with the aid of his wife. Her parents were dissatisfied with her "westernized" lifestyle.[301] In 2008, in Georgia, 25-year-old Sandeela Kanwal was killed by her Pakistani father for refusing an arranged marriage.[302][303][304] Amina and Sarah Said, two teenage sisters from Texas were killed, allegedly by their Egyptian father, Yaser Abdel Said, who was at large until his capture in Texas in August 2020.[305][306][307] Aasiya Zubair was, together with her husband Muzzammil Hassan, the founder and owner of Bridges TV, the first American Muslim English-language television network. She was killed by her husband in 2009. Phyllis Chesler argues that this crime was an honor killing.[308] In 2009, in Arizona, Noor Almaleki, aged 20, was killed by her father, an Iraqi immigrant, because she had refused an arranged marriage and was living with her boyfriend.[309]

The extent of honor-based violence in the U.S. is not known, because no official data is collected. There is controversy about the reasons why such violence occurs, and about the extent to which culture, religion, and views on women cause these incidents.[310]

Crimes of passion within Latin America have also been compared to honor killings.[15] As with honor killings, crimes of passion often feature the murder of a woman by a husband, family member, or boyfriend, and the crime is often condoned or sanctioned. In Peru, for example, 70 percent of the murders of women in one year were committed by a husband, boyfriend, or lover, and most often jealousy or suspicions of infidelity are cited as the reasons for the murders.[311] El Salvador ranks the worst in the world on the UN rankings of femicide.[312]

The view that violence can be justified in the name of honor and shame exists traditionally in Latin American societies, and machismo is often described as a code of honor. While some ideas originated in the Spanish colonial culture, others predate it: in the early history of Peru, the laws of the Incas allowed husbands to starve their wives to death if they committed adultery, while Aztec laws in early Mexico stipulated stoning or strangulation as punishment for female adultery.[313]

Until a few decades ago, the marriage of a girl or woman to the man who had raped her was considered a "solution" to the incident in order to restore her family's 'honor'. In fact, although laws that exonerate the perpetrator of rape if he marries his victim after the rape are often associated with the Middle East, such laws were very common around the world until the second half of the 20th century. As late as 1997, fourteen Latin American countries had such laws[314] although most of these countries have since abolished them. Such laws were ended in Mexico in 1991,[315] El Salvador in 1996,[316] Colombia in 1997, Peru in 1999,[315] Chile in 1999,[317][318] Brazil in 2005,[319][320] Uruguay in 2005,[321] Guatemala in 2006,[322] Costa Rica in 2007,[323] Panama in 2008,[324] Nicaragua in 2008,[325] Argentina in 2012,[326] and Ecuador in 2014.[327]

Jim Spigelman (who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 19 May 1998 until 31 May 2011) said that Australia's increasing diversity was creating conflicts about how to deal with the customs and traditions of immigrant populations. He said: "There are important racial, ethnic and religious minorities in Australia who come from nations with sexist traditions which, in some respects, are even more pervasive than those of the West." He said that honor crimes, forced marriages and other violent acts against women were becoming a problem in Australia.[328]

In 2010, in New South Wales, Indonesian born Hazairin Iskandar and his son killed the lover of Iskandar's wife. Iskandar stabbed the victim with a knife while his son bashed him with a hammer. The court was told that the reason for the murder was the perpetrators' belief that extramarital affairs were against their religion; and that the murder was carried out to protect the honor of the family and was a "pre-planned, premeditated and executed killing". The judge said that: "No society or culture that regards itself as civilized can tolerate to any extent, or make any allowance for, the killing of another person for such an amorphous concept as an honor".[329][330][331]

Pela Atroshi was a Kurdish 19-year-old girl who was killed by her uncle in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1999. The decision to kill her was taken by a council of her male relatives, led by Pela's grandfather, Abdulmajid Atroshi, who lived in Australia. One of his sons, Shivan Atroshi, who helped with the murder, also lived in Australia. Pela Atroshi was living in Sweden, but was taken by family members to Iraqi Kurdistan to be killed, as ordered by a family council of male relatives living in Sweden and Australia because they claimed she had tarnished the family honor. Pela Atroshi's murder was officially deemed an honor killing by authorities.[332]

This is an incomplete list of notable victims of Honor killing. See also Category:Victims of honor killing