Syrian teenagers accused of honor killing over sister’s death

BEIRUT/TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The Internal Security Forces launched an investigation Friday after two young Syrian brothers allegedly strangled their 24-year-old sister to death in what was said to be an honor killing.

A security source in the northern city of Tripoli said the brothers – Adel and Nader Abdel-Qader al-Turk – claimed to have strangled their sister because she would constantly leave the house at night without telling them where or whom she was seeing.

A statement by the ISF said the brothers, aged 13 and 16, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of their sister, only identified by her first name, Dayala.

The ISF said the murder took place Thursday in the village of Didde, in the northern province of Koura.

It said Dayala’s father arrived with his 16-year-old son at the police station in Dahr al-Ain, Koura, to report the killing.

The state-run National News Agency said the woman’s body had been found lying on the street near the Collège des Frères school in Didde.

In August 2011, lawmakers passed a proposal increasing punishment for so-called honor crimes.

The law calls for canceling an article in the penal code that grants a commutation of sentence for anyone who kills a wife, husband or close family member caught in the act of adultery, under the pretext that the act was driven by extreme anger.

Several acts of violence targeting women in Lebanon have emerged recently. Earlier this month, a father killed his 18-year-old daughter in the Akkar village of Bibnine after he discovered her intention to elope with her fiancé.

In April, Lebanon passed a new law against domestic violence, but women’s groups argued that it fell short of providing full protection for women after a Parliamentary committee finalized its amendments in August 2012. The amendments included a new title for the bill, which now refers to violence against the family as opposed to violence against women, and the removal of a key clause criminalizing marital rape.

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