I wonder how this man, and indeed his family, will progress from this tragic event:

A 24-year-old farmer is expected to be charged with the premeditated murder of his sister, who died on Tuesday, nine days after being stabbed in the Jordan Valley, official sources said.

The 17-year-old victim had her throat slit and was stabbed several times allegedly by her brother, who claimed family honour as his motive for the August 17 murder, the source said.

“The suspect waited until his family left the house, then grabbed his sister by the hair, slit her throat and stabbed her several times to her chest, back and forehead,” the source added.

The suspect then headed to his relatives’ house and informed them that he killed his sister to cleanse his family’s honour, according to the source.

The suspect informed investigators that he was “100 per cent sure” his sister was involved in an affair and that is why he stabbed her to death.

“The suspect also said his sister screamed that she was innocent and had done nothing wrong as he was stabbing her,” the source, who is close to the investigations, added.

The physicians also established that she was not sexually active. [Source]

There is very little to add to such an account, yet much frustration and many questions linger.

Most of all, how do you change a tradition such as this?

That the killers are often young men signifies that the notion of honor killing is embedded in the new generation.

How long then, will it take to instill a new belief, one in which the life of a young woman – sexually active or not, conducting an affair or not – is of equal worth as that of her male counterparts?

The state doubtless is endeavoring to enact legislative change, but it is at the grassroots level that action must also be taken.

[Via: Kinzi.]