No place for family violence
The message, from the jury to the killer in the prisoner’s box, was a definitive declaration of “guilty.”
But underpinning the conviction of Afghan immigrant Peer Khairi for the brutal 2008 killing of his wife — nearly beheading her — was a powerful statement on cultural acceptance in the country he chose as home.
In Canada, there is no place for violent traditions that let men kill their wives or daughters in the name of so-called family honour.
Instead, as the courts showed again this week, Canadian juries will rightly convict these murderers — despite courtroom protestations of wounded dignity. “I could not take it any more,” Khairi said in court, claiming his wife, Randjida, insulted him and told him he had no honour. According to police, the father of six also complained that his wife defended their children’s embrace of Western clothing and attitudes.
Khairi’s second-degree murder conviction is the latest Ontario court case in which the accused was linked to “honour killings.” In two previous high-profile cases, Ontario courts brushed aside defences based on cultural differences.
In the most notorious case, the parents and son of a polygamous Montreal Afghan family, angry over their daughters’ independent ways, drowned three girls and a first wife in the Kingston Locks Canal. Their trial spawned a debate over cultural traditions, with one expert testifying that the “shedding of blood is a way of purifying the honour of a family and accommodating the restoration of honour.”
In another case, a Mississauga father, aided by his son, strangled his 16-year-old daughter for trying to escape her father’s traditional Islamic rules. Faced with a looming first-degree murder trial, both pled guilty to second-degree charges.
The outcome of all these cases speak loudly and clearly: Canada’s legal system gives no credence to men who do harm under the misguided belief that their women should lead shrouded lives.
In the case of Khairi, it is almost naïve, in a tragic way, for him to justify the murder in court by complaining that his wife shamed his family name.
The argument is particularly specious since a group of Canadian Muslim clerics earlier this year issued a “fatwah” against honour killings. “These crimes are major sins in Islam, punishable by the court of law and almighty Allah,” declared the leader of 34 clerics affiliated with the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.
In Canada, there is a warm welcome for immigrants, but no place for feudal traditions that do harm. As guardians and interpreters of Canadian values, our courts have made that abundantly clear.