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Syrian woman killed in Germany by her family for being ‘unclean’ after being gang-raped

Muslim honour killing
Rokstan M
20-year old Rokstan M stabbed to death, allegedly by her father and brothers. In the Muslim tradition of honour killing she had brought dishonour to the family for being ‘unclean’ after being gang-raped, and killing her was the only way to restore the family’s honour.

The body of a 20-year-old Syrian woman, known  only as Rokstan M was unearthed from a shallow grave in the small Saxon town of Dessau on October 2, 2015. Her father and brothers allegedly stabbed her to death on her mother’s orders, after she was gang-raped by three men. The rape left her “unclean” and the mother allegedly demanded the killing to restore the family’s honor. German police are seeking the father and brothers. That by itself is not newsworthy; what is newsworthy is the news itself, which appeared in not one of Germany’s major daily newspapers or websites. The tabloid Bild-Zeitung ran the story, along with the regional press, while the arbiters of enlightened opinion buried it. Der Spiegel, the country’s biggest news site, and the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, the newspaper of record, made no mention.

The case of Rokstan M. is heart-rending. She had found work in Germany as a translator for the government, but she knew her family would track her down and kill her. “I am awaiting death. But I am too young to die,” she had written on a social media profile. Her story deserves a line or two in the quality press. But it’s one of many that German leaders want to ignore.

Having fled to Germany two years ago following her ordeal in her Syrian homeland, Rokstan had settled in the country and had been living in a house for single women.

But she returned to her family a few days before she was murdered.

According to authorities, she had integrated into German society and worked as a translator for refugees navigating their way through the country’s bureaucracy.

Mr Krüger, who employed her to interpret interviews with refugees, said: “Rokstan told me her terrible fate after she had helped me with translations.”

He said he had listened to a tape she made in which she said: “I was taken by three men. Ever since that time my family have regarded me as unclean. My mother and my brothers mistreat me. They say that I deserve to die.”

Her body was found in her family’s allotment in Dessau on Friday 2 October. An post-mortem examination showed that she had been stabbed several times.

Prosecutor Christian Preissner said: “There is the suspicion that the act was carried out by persons in her close circle with a culture motive in the background.”

Rokstan’s father and two brothers are wanted for questioning.

The Federal Police believe the father, Hasso, has fled Germany and is now in either Turkey or Syria.

But Mr Krüger said it was in fact the mother who had ordered the killing, having already attempted to hire a hitman to carry it out in the past.

He said Rokstan had heard this “from a friend”.

As reported in Asia Times and the Mirror UK, October 2015

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