Sunday, October 10, 2010

Italy: Woman Killed Opposing Arranged Marriage

From AFP:
A Pakistani woman has died in Italy after her husband beat her with a brick for opposing the arranged marriage of her daughter, triggering a wave of outrage among Italian politicians on Monday.

The daughter, 20-year-old Nosheen Butt, was hospitalised with a cranial traumatism and a broken arm after her 19-year-old brother beat her with a stick in the courtyard of their building in Novi, near the northern city of Modena.

According to Modena prosecutors' initial findings, the father Ahmad Khan Butt, a 53-year-old construction worker, threw his wife to the ground and beat her with a brick while the brother Umair attacked his sister.

"The victim did not want her daughter to have an unhappy relationship like the one that had been forced on her," said deputy Modena prosecutor Lucia Musti, who is in charge of the investigation.

"The mother and the daughter were on the same side and this could be called a 'cultural' homicide because in addition to domestic violence there is the issue of the traditions that may have motivated the crime," Musti said.

The family's three other children have been taken in by Italian social services.

The Italian political class reacted with indignation at the incident which was highly similar to the cases of a girl of Pakistani origin in 2006 and a Moroccan girl in 2009 who wanted to lead Western lives with Italian boyfriends.

2 comments:

Keith said...

Well I hope these men are punished, cultural or not. After all the crimes were committed in Italy. I see no mention of any legal action in your post.

Lizzie said...

Was there not a story in the US also where a father killed his 2 teenage girls for trying to runaway? I read about it awhile ago it is so sad that any culture would resort to such violence. Heartbreaking I hope the daughter finally gets away and her father and brother suffer for what they did.