It is less clear to me that it is a classic (dis)honour killing.

Would this indicate help in the execution?

Think about it. In the above article, Chesler cites a passage from the Koran that starts out talking about meeting enemies on the battlefield. She then relates this to the guy’s actions when he killed the wife who was divorcing him. But was she an enemy on a battlefield? I don’t think so. She was instead the guy’s wife. Now the Koran does at one point encourage wife-beating, but it never says anything about killing wives or daughters, at least not that I’m aware of.

Think again of what these killings are called. “Honor” killings. Not “Religious” killings, but “Honor” killings. What’s going on, frankly, is that if your 15 year old daughter is flirting with non-Muslim boys at a local McDonalds, it *shames* a man in front of his friends. If a powerful TV executive has three wives leave him in turn, because he beats them, it’s *embarrassing*, *humiliating* to him. A person in such a culture has a reputation, and it can be drastically influenced by the behavior of family members, especially the women. If they do things which the community doesn’t approve of, it reflects badly on the men who are supposed to be responsible for the women of the family. Those men need to act swiftly, to restore the family honor. There’s no religious aspect to this, whatsoever, beyond perhaps the sorts of behavior that are prohibited. It’s more about what those in the Hispanic community refer to as *machismo* and much less about religion. The problem is that here in the states, religion has such a bad reputation that if any mention of religious practices is made, around an incident like this, everyone assumes it’s the sole, or at least the major, component to what happened.

Trust me, when he did this the guy was saying to himself “A man can only take so much…What did she expect me to do?”

All we know is that Aasiya’s beheaded body was found in the offices of Bridges TV after her husband reported her death to the police at 6:20 pm. We do not know if her husband committed the act alone.

To me, it seems highly unlikely that one man, even a big, strong one, could behead a vibrant, young woman, with adrenaline flowing, in a public place without anyone hearing the commotion and coming to her aid. This act apparently took place on a weekday afternoon in a business establishment and her body was discovered in the hallway, a common area. Where were the workers? Was she actually killed there or somewhere else and brought there? Could Hassan manage all that on his own? In the middle of the day?

Also, we don’t know if she was killed first and beheaded later. Only an autopsy can confirm that.

Then there’s Hassan’s report to the police. I would imagine that beheading someone is a very messy undertaking. Did Hassan do the deed and then clean himself up and change his clothes before going the police station? Did he have the time to do that?

There are many logistical questions left unanswered that suggest accomplices were involved and until we get more evidence, including an autopsy, I don’t think we should relinquish naming this atrocious murder an honor killing so easily. Rushing to call it an ordinary domestic violence death, does not honor Aasiya’s life.