Honour Killings Soar As Islamic Fundamentalism Spreads It's Wings

From the Telegraph via Vlad Tepes:

Tulay Goren murder: ‘honour’ crimes doubling every year, figures show

“Honour killings” are now running at the rate of one a month, it has emerged, following a shocking rise in violent crimes committed in Britain in the name of religion.

The number of murders, rapes and assaults on people who dare to break strict religious or cultural rules is doubling every year, police figures show, with up to two violent “honour crimes” being committed every day.

But charities which help victims of honour crimes say the true extent of the problem is far worse than the statistics show, as every year hundreds of vicitms – normally women – are too frightened to report attacks or to give evidence in court.

The escalating problem was highlighted yesterday as an Old Bailey jury convicted Mehmet Goren, 49, of the cold-blooded and premeditated murder of his 15-year-old daughter Tulay after she fell in love with someone from the “wrong” branch of Islam.

Miss Goren disappeared 10 years ago after telling a friend she might be pregnant but justice caught up with her father after his wife “courageously” testified against him and lifted what was described as the “cloak of secrecy” which surrounds honour crimes.

A prosecutor said the case was a “wake-up call” to the authorities over the extent of the problem in this country, which campaigners say is growing because of the rise of religious fundamentalism.

Miss Goren and her family had nine contacts with police in the days before her death, during which they complained of violence by Goren, but officers had little understanding at the time of the concept of honour crimes and she was left at the mercy of her father.

The court heard that Miss Goren, whose Turkish Kurd family are Alevi Muslims, was drugged, tortured and then killed by her father after she fell in love with a Sunni Muslim twice her age. Her body has never been found.

Miss Goren’s sister Nuray Guler told the court, the teenager had been “caught in the middle of two clashing worlds” and pleaded with police to stop other women falling victim to “this primitive custom”.

She expressed fears for the safety of her mother Hanim, whose evidence against Goren had put her own life in danger. “No one should fail to realise what this means within our culture,” she said.

“These people do not forget.”

And some people wonder why Pamela Geller is making such a big deal over Rifqa Bary.