Ahmed al-Khatib enjoys taking selfies with his iPhone, but killed his wife for being “too westernized”…
Syrian Muslim Ahmed al-Khatib moved to the UK to start a new life… but brought his seventh-century beliefs with him. al-Khatib’s much younger wife, Rania Alayed, came with him. Unlike her husband, Alayed began to integrate into the UK culture, and even had friends who were both non-Muslim and of the opposite sex (gasp), neither of which were acceptable to the devout (and clearly overly jealous) al-Khatib.
al-Khatib feared his younger, infinitely more attractive wife would leave him to be with someone who actually treated her right. How did the Muslim react? Did he try to be a better husband? Nope; instead he chose to be a widower. When Alayed went to al-Khatib’s brother’s house to drop the couple’s three children off, she didn’t know she’d be leaving stuffed inside a suitcase.
After dropping the children off, Alayed and al-Khatib remained at al-Khatib’s brother’s house. That’s when al-Khatib, who claimed he was “possessed by a spirit [likely a jinn]” pushed his wife, causing her to hit her head on the way down. The impact was fatal. al-Khatib and his brother stuffed Alayed’s corpse into a suitcase and dumped the body, which has yet to be found.
Aside from Alayed’s western friends, al-Khatib had been infuriated by his wife’s attempts to find an escape from her marriage. These efforts included contacting police and a lawyer. Alayed had even told people she lived “in fear of her husband” and believed he might try to kill her. According to the prosecution in the case, Alayed’s “westernization” was one of the main factors that led al-Khatib to kill her.
Rania Alayed is the latest in a long line of Islamic “honor” killings inspired by the religion’s barbaric teachings. To read about other honor killings, visit the Honor Killings category. I’ll let CSI Miami’s Horatio Caine conclude this one:
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oh, the next dead woman with a muslim background who had told UK authorities in advance that she lived in fear of her husband.
Seems to me that many UK police forces really should look into how they handle those cases but at least these police forces are very culturally sensitive and don’t just jump to the conclusion that women (with Muslim background) who live in fear of their husbands might actually be in danger. It appeats that the cultural sensitivity training some police forces receive is paying off.
Though which police force was responsible for this latest evidence of cultural sensitivity? Some news reports mention they lived in teesside and other describe them as being from Manchester.
It’s unknown, as the crime occurred in a different residence than the one the victim lived in. However, I think the police and the other individuals and social agencies she contacted regarding her husband’s intimidation really dropped the ball on this one. Cultural sensitivity needs to take a step back and we need to prioritize women’s rights and safety.
@YDM,
of course “cultural sensitivity” needs to be made less of a priority.
Normally the police which was informed by the victim that she lives in fear of her husband should have provided her further information about e.g. a woman’s refuge. The question is now which police force had been initially contacted.
If the contact occured in Teesside it should have been Cleveland Police and if it was in Manchester it was Greater Manchester Police.
I’m not surpirsed to find that Greater Manchester Police is one of the worst police forces in England & Wales and Cleveland Police is also a police force with a porrer performance.[http://www.theguardian.com/observer/secondterm/table/0,8173,610617,00.html
in more detail/which areas were assessed: [http://www.theguardian.com/observer/secondterm/table/0,8173,609883,00.html
And whilst all police forces which mainly operate in urban, densely populated areas (like Metropolitan Police or Greater Manchester police) have the disadvantage of generally having higher crime rates in a given area compared with more rural areas, this can’t be the sole explanation for Greater Manchester Police’s & Met Police’s failure as City of London police made it into the top 10 as one of the best performing police forces.
In this case Met Police is not at fault but in the case of Banaz who had contacted Met Police more then once because of domestic violence and then ended up murdered. But fortunately (if this can be saif at all) after her “disappearance” older policemen (who were trained when cultural sensitivity was not that big) got the case and they immediately noticed that something was odd there and contacted the murder investigation unit who then took over.
(for people who don’t know the case here’s an article about the it though I def recommend watching the documentary http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/22/banaz-mahmod-honour-killing)
But there appears to be a pattern evolving here: women with Muslim background informs police about threats or domestic violence, police take dutifully some notes but don’t do anything more to help the victim. At some point the victim “disappears” despite having made contact with the police.
Another case: Tulay Goren, contacted the police because he had been assaulted by her father (who appears to be a good candidate for becoming a daily muslim), ended up murdered. though the article mentions that she had been “lured” back home after a couple of weeks. Should that mean that the police had taken some action?[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6832862/Honour-killing-father-convicted-of-murder-of-Tulay-Goren.html
And the pattern will continue – more Muslims coming into the country, converting infidel women through marriage or bringing their wives with them, then acting out violently. The only way to break the cycle is for law enforcement agencies to recognize that the problem lies in Islam, and that trying to be “sensitive” will only result in more women being killed.
Maybe I need to do an honor killings week; there are so many…
[…] Ahmed al-Khatib – Syrian immigrant to the UK who killed his wife because he claimed he was possessed by a spirit (Jinn) which made him do it. […]