A man has beheaded his younger sister in Badakhshán province in northeast Afghanistan after the young woman eloped with her boyfriend to try to marry him and the police handed her over to the family, local authorities have reported.
The woman, who was in her 20s, went to the police to ask for protection. According to Badakhshán Police spokesman Sanaulá Ruhani, the woman went to a police station in the Baharak district on Saturday with her boyfriend.
Police have explained that the young couple wanted to get married but did not receive authorization from her family because the boyfriend is from a poorer family. The girl’s brother went to the police station to pick her up on Monday and assured the agents that he would do nothing to her. The next night he killed her.
Ruhani has explained that several relatives have told the Police that the brother killed the young woman and then fled. Her boyfriend has been under police protection. The head of the Badakhshán Provincial Council, Abdulá Nayi Nazari, has said that the murder was the result of negligence.
The police spokesman has indicated that several sources have reported that the brother had taken refuge in territory controlled by the Taliban in the same district, about three hours walk from the family home.
In some rural and traditional areas of Afghanistan, many women remain under strict family control. If a young couple tries to flee without permission, many families consider it “a moral crime.”
According to a United Nations report published in March, women continue to be victims of “honor crimes” perpetrated by family members who accuse them of embarrassing the family. In many cases, the murders go unreported and the perpetrators are neither prosecuted nor prosecuted.
