Anna Momigliano,
The NationFebruary 2, 2010
Milan, Italy - When Sanaa Dafani, a young woman living in the small town of Pordenone, Italy, was murdered this past fall, local media were quick to label the crime a case of "honor killing."
Eighteen-year-old Dafani, who was born in Italy to Moroccan parents, was killed by her conservative Muslim father, who had been angered by her Western lifestyle. In Dafani's case, this meant wearing jeans and dating a man.
Dafani's death shocked the country, and many blamed Muslim traditions for the murder: "Here's another case demonstrating that the Islamic culture cannot be integrated into our society," said Enzo Bortolotti, a representative of the Northern League, an influential right-wing party.
Honor killings, homicides carried out by male family members to redeem the shame that women have supposedly brought upon their families, are often associated with, and blamed on, tribal customs in the Arab and Muslim world. In some particularly conservative Muslim countries, such as Iran and Pakistan, honor killing is still legal according to local tribal authorities, although it is often condemned by the central governments. In other countries, this practice is formally prohibited but is widespread and treated leniently: in Turkey, for instance, there are more than 200 honor killings a year--half of all the murders committed in the country. Many of them are easily disguised as suicides, while others are punished with just two or three years of jail.
But evidence suggests honor killings are still relatively common in the West as well, not only among Muslim immigrants, although such crimes may take a different name.
Read more:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100215/momiglanoIn other words, it ain't right to scapegoat Muslims as violent, misogynistic people, as such traits apply to other groups of people too. Take
THAT David Horowitz and all you right-wing white Islamophobic bigots!