In August a case of so-called honour killing comes up for retrial in Germany’s highest court. Two years ago in Berlin, the murder of a young Kurdish woman at the hands of her three brothers sparked a nation-wide debate on the limits of multicultural tolerance and the failures of integration policy in Germany. The 23 year-old woman was shot for supposedly bringing dishonour to her family for living a western lifestyle. Only the youngest brother was handed a prison sentence, but the public prosecutor insists the whole family was behind the killing. While cases like this are extremely rare, it was the sixth such incident in five months. Now there’s a new organisation devoted to rescuing women and girls from Turkish or Middle Eastern communities in Germany, who feel the threat of an honour killing or forced marriage.
