In a gruesome incident of honour killing, a 16-year-old Turkish girl was buried alive by relatives for talking to boys. Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, according Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. Police made the discovery in December after a tip-off from an informant, who told the police she had been killed following a family "council" meeting.
A post mortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried. Her body showed no signs of bruising.
The girl had previously been reported missing. Her father and grandfather have since been arrested and held in custody pending trial. The girl’s mother was arrested, but was released later.
Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter, who was one of nine children, had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.
Apparently Medine had repeatedly tried to report to police that she had been beaten by her father and grandfather days before she was killed.
"She tried to take refuge at the police station three times, and she was sent home three times," her mother, Immihan, said after the body was discovered in December.
The episode is set to reopen the debate about honour killings in Turkey. Although honour killings are not infrequent in Turkey, the especially gruesome manner of Medine's death has shocked the nation.
Official figures have indicated that more than 200 such killings take place each year, accounting for around half of all murders in Turkey.
Cited from: http://www.dailychilli.com/news/2238-girl-16-buried-alive-for-talking-to-boys
Honour killing also known as customary killing, is the murder of a family member by other family members, where the murderers (and potentially the wider community) believe that the victim have brought dishonor upon the family or community. Human Right Watch defines "honour killings" as acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by her family members for various reasons which include refuse to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce even from an abusive husband. -Quoted from Wikipedia-
The Medine case mentioned above occured in Turkey- one of the countries where honor killing is illegal yet common to occur. Based on Turkish Criminal Code, the person will be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty of this crime. One recent case was on January 13 last year, where five Kurdish family members are sentenced to life imprisonment for the honour killing of Naile Erdas, 16, who got pregnant after being raped. Cases of honour killing are indeed more likely to arise in rural areas due to lack of attention from authorities as well as they fell behind in terms of education, legislation and so forth. Souad, a woman who survived from a failed honour killing has published her first book "Burned Alive: A Victim of the Law of Men". This book is gaining momentum from human rights groups globally as now men and women are no longer unequal. Hence, raising awareness towards this issue is of utmost importance.
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