An honour killing in Toronto

16 year-old Aqsa Parvez wanted to be herself. In some families, that's a capital offence:

Aqsa Parvez was largely estranged from her family and sleeping away from home in recent days. The 16-year-old's friends said she returned to her home in Mississauga on Monday only to collect her belongings.

Shortly afterward, she was taken to hospital, where she died early Tuesday morning – leaving friends grief-stricken and igniting a public debate on religious extremism in Canada.

Her father, 57-year-old taxi driver Muhammad Parvez, is charged with murder. Her brother, 26-year-old Waqas Parvez, is charged with obstructing police.

Ms. Parvez's friends described the Grade 11 student at Applewood Heights Secondary School as someone who was drawn to Western culture even as her family adhered to a devout form of Islam. Friends paint a picture of a hardworking and cheerful girl who loved dancing, fashion and photography – interests that often clashed with her strict home environment.

[...]

During her stay, Ms. Looby said, Ms. Parvez didn't wear the hijab, a head scarf that friends said was a hot topic within her family.

Krista Garbutt remembers walking down the street with Ms. Parvez earlier this year, when the two of them spotted Ms. Parvez's brother walking toward them. Panicking, the teenager quickly fumbled for her head scarf, trying to put it on. “There were times when we'd be walking down the street and she'd see her brother and she wouldn't be wearing her hijab and she'd have to put it on,” Ms. Garbutt said. “She said, ‘He'll kill me, he'll kill me.' I said, ‘He's not going to kill you,' but she said, ‘Yeah, he will.' And nobody believed it.”

On Monday morning, Peel Regional Police responded to a 911 call from a man who said he had just killed his daughter. When officers arrived at a single-family detached home on Longhorn Trail, they found Ms. Parvez suffering from life-threatening injuries. She was taken immediately to Credit Valley Hospital and later transferred in critical condition to the Hospital for Sick Children, where she died.

Peel police said the Crown is waiting to decide whether Mr. Parvez should be charged with first- or second-degree murder, pending a police investigation. Although police would not elaborate on the ongoing homicide investigation, the difference between laying a first- or second-degree murder charge often rests on proving that the killing was premeditated.

The Globe and Mail story makes reference to this post by Kathy Shaidle:

If they can't be bothered to publically condemn this outrage, we need to start shunning Muslims.

Both "Mohammeds" in this case drove cab; decline cabs driven by Muslim men.

When you see Muslims in traditional garb instead of normal Western clothes, cut them dead (figuratively, of course. These are dim, literal minded people -- one must needs be spell everything out.)

Make them feel as uncomfortable as possible and maybe, if we're lucky, they will start going back to Crapistan where they obviously belong, with their backward, violent ways and their indifference to even the most rudimentary duties demanded of civilized people.

It is our duty to remain eternally vigilant to threats posed by pro-sharia Muslims in our midst. [emphasis in original]

I agree that we have to speak out against practices which are incompatible with Canadian society and values (assuming we still have any, aside from "tolerance"), and that no excuses must be made for what happened to this poor girl. But I suspect many Canadian Muslims, especially those who've just arrived from other countries, are torn between their old lives and their new home. Many of the ones who wear "traditional garb" don't necessarily want to do so. (Aqsa Parvez didn't.)

Is "shunning" them going to make them see the error of their ways, or will it make them seek solace in extremist Islam? You know I'm no mushy-headed multiculturalist, but Kathy's proposal - which, I'm sure, was written in anger - will make the problem even worse.

Mohamed Elmasry, meanwhile, warns against jumping to conclusions:

A slain Muslim teen whose father has been charged with murder apparently chafed at the prospect of wearing traditional religious garb.

But members of the Islamic community warn against anyone using the tragedy to vilify the head scarf known as the hijab.

[...]

Police have not commented on a possible motive in the case and experts caution against jumping to conclusions about the source of any conflict in the family.

"I don't want the public to think that this is really an Islamic issue or an immigrant issue," said Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress. "It is a teenager issue."

And if Ms. Parvez had been beaten to death by white teenagers, I'm sure Elmasry would be saying we shouldn't rush to judgment about it being a hate crime. I'm sure.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at December 12, 2007 07:36 AM