Honor killing in the United States

In 1989 in St. Louis, Missouri, sixteen-year-old Palestina (Tina) Isa was murdered by her Palestinian father, Zein Isa, with the aid of her Brazilian mother, Maria Isa. Their daughter listened to American popular music such as dance, rap, R&B, and rock. After learning that Palestina had taken a part-time job without her parents' permission, and dated an African American man, her father felt she had become too modernized. On the day of her murder, Zein repeatedly stabbed his daughter Tina, while her mother Maria held her down.[5] On December 20, 1991[6] both Zein and Maria Isa were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. He later died of diabetes complications on February 17, 1997. Maria's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without parole; she died on April 30, 2014, in a Vandalia, Missouri, prison at the age of 70.[7]

Amina and Sarah Said were the children of Egyptian immigrant Yaser Abdel Said and American Patricia "Tissie" Owens. Both girls were born in Dallas, Texas, Amina on March 2, 1989, and Sarah on March 16, 1990. The girls were found shot to death in a taxi at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Irving, Texas, on January 1, 2008. Both girls had left their home in Lewisville, Texas, earlier that evening, with their father Yaser Said. At 7:33 pm CT a call came into the Irving Police Department's 911 call center. The call was from Sarah Said. She had been shot nine times and told the operator, "My dad shot me and my sister. I'm dying!" Their mother, Patricia Said, claims that both girls were killed for having non-Muslim boyfriends. Death threats had been made by Yaser against the girls. They ran away and were safe, but their mother brought them back. Yaser Said was an FBI Top Ten Fugitive until his capture in 2020, the FBI was offering a $100,000[8] reward for information leading to his arrest.[9][10] Said has been featured on America's Most Wanted as well as on a Fox News special about honor killings in America;[11] he was also on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.

Yaser Abdel Said was captured on August 26, 2020, aged 63. He had been on the run for over twelve years up until then.[12]

In July 2008, New York Post writer John P. Avlon claimed that the murder of 25-year-old Sandeela Kanwal—by her father, Chaudhry Rashid—was an "American Honor Killing."[13] Rashid strangled Kanwal to death with a bungee cord after she tried to end her arranged marriage. Chaudhry Rashid was then sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

In February 2009, Muzzammil Hassan was arrested and charged with murdering his estranged wife Aasiya Zubair with a knife and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America responded with an "Open Letter to Muslim Leaders", expressing shock and sadness at the murder, condemning domestic violence, and calling on imams and Muslim leaders to "provide support and help to protect the victims of domestic violence" and "to never second-guess a woman who comes to us indicating that she feels her life to be in danger."[14] Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, vice-president of ISNA, stated: "This is a wake up call to all of us, that violence against women is real and cannot be ignored. It must be addressed collectively by every member of our community."[15]

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, an Iraqi immigrant, used his vehicle to strike and kill his daughter Noor Almaleki (aged 20) in a Phoenix valley parking lot in October 2009; he also severely injured her boyfriend's mother, Amal Khalaf. Police said Almaleki told detectives and witnesses after the October 2009 incident that he was angry at his daughter because she was "too Westernized," defying Iraqi and Muslim values. Noor had shunned an arranged marriage to a first cousin in Iraq, and was living with her boyfriend and his mother, police said. Earlier, she had insisted on driving and crashed the family van. County prosecutor Laura Reckart said an enraged Almaleki hid in the parking lot waiting for her and her boyfriend's mother and then "revved and raced that car right into them." Following his daughter's death, Almaleki fled to Mexico and later to London, where he was taken into custody upon his arrival.[16]

After four days of deliberation, the six-man, six-woman jury at Maricopa County Superior Court convicted him of second-degree murder. The jury also convicted him of aggravated assault for crashing his vehicle into Khalaf, and two further counts of hit and run. Subsequently, Almaleki was sentenced to 34 ½ years in prison.[17]

Jordanian-American Ali Mahmood Awad Irsan was sentenced to death in a Texas court on August 14, 2018 for the murders of Gelareh Bagherzadeh and Coty Beavers in Greater Houston.[18] Bagherzadeh, an Iranian-American, had encouraged Irsan's daughter Nesreen to renounce Islam and to convert to Evangelical Christianity. Coty Beavers, who was also an Evangelical Christian,[19] was Nesreen's husband.[20]