Iraqi immigrant who ran over daughter gets 34 yrs.

Iraqi immigrant who ran over daughter gets 34 yrs.

Associated Press
Friday, Apr. 15, 2011

PHOENIX — An Iraqi immigrant was sentenced Friday to 34 1/2 years in an Arizona prison for running over and killing his 20-year-old daughter because she became too Westernized.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle told Faleh Hassan Almaleki that forgiveness is the core of all religion, but the judge said he was struck by Almaleki's apparent lack of remorse for killing Noor Almaleki.

The case caused outrage nationwide after prosecutors deemed it an "honor killing" because Faleh Almaleki had said his daughter dishonored his family.

Defense attorneys called the death an accident.

But in a statement, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, whose prosecutors handled the case, said "the killing of one's own child is more than just a violation of the law."

"It is an offense against parenthood itself and the awesome responsibility parents have for nurturing and protecting their children," he said. "Dishonor, disrespect and other cultural mores can never serve as a justification for the taking of an innocent life. Mr. Almaleki will have an appropriately long time in prison to ponder this truth."

A jury found Faleh Almaleki guilty of second-degree murder for the killing and aggravated assault for running over the mother of Noor Almaleki's boyfriend. Jurors also convicted Faleh Almaleki of two counts of leaving the scene of an accident.

On Oct. 20, 2009, Noor Almaleki spotted her father when she and Amal Khalaf visited a Department of Economic Security office. When the two women left the office, Faleh Almaleki hit them with his Jeep before fleeing the country, prosecutors said.

Law enforcement soon caught up with him in London and returned him to Phoenix.

Khalaf lived and was at Friday's sentencing. Noor Almaleki was in a coma for two weeks before she died from her injuries.

Faleh Almaleki moved his family from Iraq to the Phoenix suburb of Glendale in the mid-1990s. He wanted his daughter to adhere to Iraqi traditions, but she wanted to be a typical American girl, according to court records and her close friends.

At 17, she refused to enter an arranged marriage in Iraq, enraging her father, according to a court document filed by prosecutors.

At 19, Noor Almaleki moved into her own apartment and began working at a fast food restaurant but quit after her parents kept showing up at her work, insisting she return home, the document said.

Later in 2009, she moved in with her boyfriend and his parents, Reikan and Amal Khalaf, after saying her parents had hit her.

The document said that Faleh Almaleki regularly harassed his daughter and the Khalafs, once telling Reikan Khalaf that if his daughter didn't move out of their home, "something bad was going to happen."

Ah yes... the great religion of peace.

I don't see this is an issue of religion but of culture. Thread moved.

dblboggie wrote:Ah yes... the great religion of peace.

Of course, we'd never see anything like that from Christians

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jun/23/israel
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE5AE06420091115

I think this thread has at least the seed of a religious discussion, even if the article doesn't quite enter the realm of religion:

Are or aren't "honor killings" Islamic (or Jewish, or Christian)?

What do the holy texts of the Abrahamic religions say in support of or against honor killings?

On what Quranic or Biblical basis would one argue for or against honor killings?

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:

dblboggie wrote:Ah yes... the great religion of peace.

Of course, we'd never see anything like that from Christians

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jun/23/israel
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE5AE06420091115

Interesting response Matt. Of course, the Bible itself (Old Testament naturally) did sanction honor killings for dishonoring one's parents, but I had not heard of any contemporary incidents of this until your post above. However, the incidents you cite here occurred in Palestine and Egypt and not in the West. There is a very valid argument to be made that, in these cases, honor killings are as much a cultural phenomenon as a religious one.

Now, if we started seeing honor killings by Christians in the West, then you might have a case that Christianity is no better than Islam on the issue. But I seriously doubt you are going to be able to produce credible statistics that make Christian honor killings in the West a point of concern.

I haven't found any yet, nevertheless there are other abuses by Christians in the west, children abused or killed because they are believed to be possessed, or witches: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5162592-504083.html

And child-beating in the name of the Bible: http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/UPDATE__Eight_Face_Charges_in_Child_Abuse_Investigation.html?storySection=story

And the stoning of homosexuals: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/murray-seidman-pennsylvania-man-stoned-to-death_n_837655.html

As far as I am aware there are no religious justifications in either the Bible or the Koran that says it is ok to kill one's daughter for refusing to marry the man of your choice, nor has any perpetrator of said crime attempted to justify their actions through scripture, that is my justification for moving this thread.

The only scriptural example I can think of is that they all support stoning of adulterers.