A Muslim mother and father who murdered their own daughter for bringing ‘shame’ on the family because she had sex with a man they did not approve of have been caged for life in Germany.
The so-called ‘honour killing’ of Lareeb Khan, 19, was carried out by her father Azadullah, 52, who crept into her bedroom at night and strangled her while her mother Shazia, 42, looked on.
The killing was triggered because they learned she had tried to steal condoms for her illicit sex sessions with her lover. Both then disposed of the body of the ‘bright and talented’ youngster whose only crime was to fall in love with a 23-year-old man called Raheel they disapproved of.
The crime shocked Germany which is struggling with an influx of almost a million refugees, most of them Muslim, changing the face of the country forever. The case stokes fears of a schizophrenic society evolving with some immigrants unable to jettison values and beliefs that have no place in modern western societies.
Judge Volker Wagner referred to their right to live in their own cultural cosmos when he summed up before sentencing – but not at the expense of human life.
