Police in Atlanta have been investigating the death of a 25-year-old Pakistani woman, who was allegedly murdered by her father in the name of family honor.
She wanted out of an arranged marriage, but her father thought a divorce would bring shame to the family. […]
Sandeela Kanwal was the 25-year-old daughter of Chaudry Rashid. [Detective Mike] Christian says when police arrived at the house, they found the 57-year-old pizza shop owner sitting cross-legged in his driveway, smoking a cigarette.
"They talked to him and asked him what was going on," says Christian, "and he said, 'My daughter's dead.' They asked him again what he'd said and he said, 'My daughter's dead.'"
Police found Kanwal dead on the floor of her bedroom, still in her Wal-Mart uniform. She'd been working the late shift that night. As they surveyed the scene, police tried to piece together what had happened. Rashid was taken into custody and questioned.
"He admitted to actually taking the life of his daughter," says Sgt. Stefan Schindler, a 13-year veteran of the Clayton County Police Department.
"And the reason he took his daughter's life," says Schindler, "by his own words was that she wasn't being true to her religion or to her husband."
Police believe Rashid killed his daughter because she wanted a divorce and he felt that it would bring shame on his family. Schindler says Rashid told him that killing his daughter was a right given to him by God — and that God would protect him. To police, in other words, this was an honor killing. […]
Begner [Rashid's lawyer] hopes the state doesn't make this about Islam or ethnicity. This death could have happened, he says, in any culture, with any family.
Of course it could. Any culture, any family.
Mick Hartley 
Leave a comment