Free Republic

Help me out here. Why do some men think that murdering their sisters or daughters will preserve "family honor"? What's honorable about killing women because of rumors that they are romantically involved with a man from the wrong tribe, village or religion? Does the honor of a family depend only on the behavior of its young women? Why do we make allowances for the behavior of these cold-blooded killers? Where is our criminal justice system? And why are the police unable to protect abused and targeted women? Recently, the Israeli press has reported extensively on several horrifying cases in the...

SULTANWALA, Pakistan, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Five young Pakistani women, who were married in absentia when very young, now face abduction, rape or even death for refusing to honor the unions. An order issued by a village council in the Punjab province says any one of the punishments can be carried out. The women, all cousins, were married in absentia by a Mullah to illiterate sons of their family's enemies when the girls were between the ages of 6 and 13. The marriages were part of a compensation after the father of one of the girls shot and killed a...

Muslim militants have threatened to kill Christian nurses serving at the Federal Medical Center in the town of Keffi, in the central state of Nasarawa, unless they stop conducting Christian worship services. An undated letter received by hospital management and the hospital’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Nurses (FCN) stated, “We are making it abundantly clear that our thirst for your heads/blood is mounting daily if you continue with your worship services in the hospital unabated.” Subsequently, the medical director and chief executive at Keffi Federal Medical Center banned Christian-related activities at the facility and banned the FCN chapter...

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Islamist group in Iraq (news - web sites) has said it killed two female Italian hostages in a statement posted on an Internet site not often used by Iraqi militants. The group, calling itself the Jihad Organization, said it had killed the women after Italy did not heed its call to withdraw its forces from Iraq. A group with a similar name, the Islamic Jihad Organization, said on September 12 that it would kill the hostages in 24 hours if Italian troops did not leave Iraq.