American Freedom Defense Initiative et al v. Suburban Mobility Authority For Regional Transportation (SMART) et al

Filing 58

MOTION for Summary Judgment by All Plaintiffs. (Attachments: # 1 Index of Exhibits, # 2 Exhibit 1--Declaration of Robert Spencer, # 3 Exhibit 2--Declaration of Pamela Geller, # 4 Exhibit 3--Declaration of Robert J. Muise, # 5 Exhibit 4--SMART deposition excerpts, # 6 Exhibit 5--SMART deposition exhibits, # 7 Exhibit 6--Beth Gibbons deposition excerpts, # 8 Exhibit 7--Pamela Geller deposition excerpts, # 9 Exhibit 8--Pamela Geller deposition exhibits, # 10 Exhibit 9--Elizabeth Dryden deposition excerpts) (Muise, Robert)

EXHIBIT 1

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
AMERICAN FREEDOM DEFENSE
INITIATIVE; et al.,

No. 2:10-cv-12134-DPH-MJH
DECLARATION OF
ROBERT SPENCER

Plaintiffs,
v.
SUBURBAN MOBILITY AUTHORITY
for REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION
(“SMART”), et al.,

Hon. Denise Page Hood
Magistrate Judge Hluchaniuk

Defendants.
AMERICAN FREEDOM LAW CENTER
Robert J. Muise, Esq. (P62849)
P.O. Box 131098
Ann Arbor, MI 48113
[e-mail]
[phone]
David Yerushalmi, Esq.
1901 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Suite 201
Washington, D.C. 20006
[e-mail]
[phone]

SMART
Avery E. Gordon, Esq. (P41194)
Anthony Chubb, Esq. (P72608)
535 Griswold Street, Suite 600
Detroit, MI 48226
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
VANDEVEER GARZIA, P.C.
John J. Lynch (P16887)
Christian E. Hildebrandt (P46989)
1450 W. Long Lake Road,
Suite 100
Troy, MI 48098
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[phone]
Fax: [phone]

THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER
Erin Mersino, Esq. (P70866)
24 Frank Lloyd Wright Dr.
P.O. Box 393
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
[e-mail]
[phone]

Counsel for Defendants
Counsel for Plaintiffs

______________________________________________________________________________

1

I, Robert Spencer, make this declaration pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746 and
based on my personal knowledge.
1.

I am an adult citizen of the United States and a plaintiff in this case.

2.

I, along with Pamela Geller, who is also a plaintiff in this case, co-

founded the American Freedom Defense Initiative (“AFDI”). I am currently the
Associate Director of AFDI, and Ms. Geller is the Executive Director.
3.

AFDI is a nonprofit organization that is incorporated under the laws

of the State of New Hampshire. AFDI is also a plaintiff in this case.
4.

Ms. Geller and I engage in free speech activity through various

projects of AFDI.

One such project is the posting of advertisements on the

advertising space of various government transportation agencies throughout the
United States, including the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional
Transportation (“SMART”), which operates buses in the Detroit, Michigan area.
5.

By way of background, I have an M.A. in Religious Studies from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1986) and have been studying Islamic
theology, law, and history since 1980. I am the author of twelve books on Islam
and jihad, including two New York Times bestsellers, and have trained FBI agents,
U.S. military personnel, and intelligence agencies on these issues.
6.

AFDI’s “Leaving Islam” advertisement, which has been identified as

Exhibit 2 to the SMART deposition and Exhibit SS to the Geller Deposition, is the
2

advertisement at issue in this case.

This advertisement expresses a critically

important public service message. The advertisement provides information to
those who seek refuge from a potentially dangerous situation: leaving the religion
of Islam. For young girls and women in particular who desire religious freedom
and who reject the often harsh demands of Islam, leaving Islam can be life
threatening. Indeed, the problem with “honor killings” is a real problem—and it is
a problem that is seldom addressed.
7.

In 2010, for example, the Middle East Forum, a well-respected, peer-

reviewed, scholarly journal, published an article on “Worldwide Trends in Honor
Killings,” which highlighted the problem. A true and accurate copy of this article
is attached to this declaration as Exhibit A. In the article, the author notes the
following:
It is clear that Muslim girls and women are murdered for honor in
both the West and the East when they refuse to wear the hijab or
choose to wear it improperly. In addition, they are killed for behaving
in accepted Western or modern ways when they express a desire to
attend college, have careers, live independent lives, have non-Muslim
friends (including boyfriends with whom they may or may not be
sexually involved), choose their own husbands, refuse to marry their
first cousins, or want to leave an abusive husband.
This
“Westernization” trend also exists in Muslim countries but to a lesser
extent. Allegations of unacceptable “Westernization” accounted for
44 percent of honor murders in the Muslim world as compared to 71
percent in Europe and 91 percent in North America.
Tempted by Western ideas, desiring to assimilate, and hoping to
escape lives of subordination, those girls and women who exercise
their option to be Western are killed—at early ages and in particularly
3

gruesome ways. Frightening honor murders may constitute an object
lesson to other Muslim girls and women about what may happen to
them if they act on the temptation to do more than serve their fathers
and brothers as domestic servants, marry their first cousin, and breed
as many children as possible. The deaths of females already living in
the West may also be intended as lessons for other female immigrants
who are expected to lead subordinate and segregated lives amid the
temptations and privileges of freedom. . . . .
8.

A young girl or woman who wants to leave the harsh dictates of Islam

will often have nowhere to turn. She will undoubtedly feel pressure, if not outright
threats, from her family and her Muslim community, including the religious
leaders in that community. In the “Leaving Islam” advertisement, we reference
these potential sources of threats and intimidation, and we also mention the term
“fatwa.”
9.

A fatwa is a Muslim cleric’s ruling on a question addressing a point of

Islamic religious law. Perhaps the most famous fatwa was the one issued in 1989
by the Ayatollah Khomeini in which he called for the killing of novelist Salman
Rushdie for his offense of blasphemy. Since the penalty for apostasy from Islam is
death (as discussed further below), a Muslim cleric’s fatwa declaring that someone
is an apostate (i.e. a Muslim who has chosen a religion other than Islam) can result
in death threats and murder.
10.

As noted above and as demonstrated by the extant and authoritative

religious teachings of Islam, the penalty for leaving Islam is death. Muhammad,
the prophet of Islam and the supreme example of conduct for the Muslim (cf.
4

Qur’an 33:21), said: “Whoever changes his Islamic religion, then kill him.”
(Bukhari 9.84.57).
11.

The Tafsir al-Qurtubi, a classic and thoroughly mainstream exegesis

of the Qur’an, says this in its commentary on Qur’an 2:217: “Scholars disagree
about whether or not apostates are asked to repent. One group say that they are
asked to repent and, if they do not, they are killed. Some say they are given an
hour and others a month. Others say that they are asked to repent three times, and
that is the view of Malik. Al-Hasan said they are asked a hundred times. It is also
said that they are killed without being asked to repent.”
12.

A manual of Islamic law, “Umdat al-Salik,” which is certified by one

of the foremost authorities in Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar University in Cairo—the
location President Obama chose to give his now famous “Cairo speech”—as
“conform[ing] to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni community,” is quite
clear that apostates must be killed:
Someone raised among Muslims who denies the obligatoriness of the
prayer, zakat, fasting Ramadan, the pilgrimage, or the unlawfulness of
wine or adultery, or denies something else upon which there is a
scholarly consensus . . . and which is necessarily known as being of
the religion . . . thereby becomes an unbeliever (kafir) and is executed
for his unbelief . . . . (f1.3)
And:
When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily
apostasizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed. (o8.1)
5

13.

The internationally renowned Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi declares:

“Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as
to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of
them, including the four main [Sunni] schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki,
Shafi`i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four
Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-`ashriyyah, Al-Ja`fariyyah, and AzZaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed.”
14.

In sum, the “Leaving Islam” advertisement is a public service

advertisement directed to those individuals—typically young girls and women—
who want to exercise their religious freedom by leaving Islam. These “apostates”
often have no place to go and no one to turn to for help.

Through this

advertisement, AFDI is offering the necessary refuge. Indeed, it is much like a
help line for victims of domestic abuse and violence. In short, this advertisement
has nothing to do with politics.
I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury that the
foregoing is true and correct.
Executed on the 13th day of August, 2013.

_______________________
Robert Spencer

6

EXHIBIT A

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Worldwide Trends in Honor Killings :: Middle East Quarterly

Worldwide Trends in Honor Killings
by Phyllis Chesler
Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2010, pp. 3-11
http://www.meforum.org/2646/worldwide-trends-in-honor-killings

To combat the epidemic of honor killings requires understanding what makes these murders unique. They differ
from plain and psychopathic homicides, serial killings, crimes of passion, revenge killings, and domestic violence.
Their motivation is different and based on codes of morality and behavior that typify some cultures, often
reinforced by fundamentalist religious dictates. In 2000, the United Nations estimated that there are 5,000 honor
killings every year.[1] That number might be reasonable for Pakistan alone, but worldwide the numbers are much
greater. In 2002 and again in 2004, the U.N. brought a resolution to end honor killings and other honor-related
crimes. In 2004, at a meeting in The Hague about the rising tide of honor killings in Europe, law enforcement
officers from the U.K. announced plans to begin reopening old cases to see if certain murders were, indeed,
honor murders.[2] The number of honor killings is routinely underestimated, and most estimates are little more
than guesses that vary widely. Definitive or reliable worldwide estimates of honor killing incidence do not exist.
Most honor killings are not classified as such, are rarely
prosecuted, or when prosecuted in the Muslim world, result in
relatively light sentences.[3] When an honor killing occurs in the
West, many people, including the police, still shy away from calling
it an honor killing. In the West, both Islamist and feminist groups,
including domestic violence activists, continue to insist that honor
killings are a form of Western-style domestic violence or femicide
(killing of women).[4] They are not.[5] This study documents that
there are at least two types of honor killings and two victim
populations. Both types differ significantly from each other, just as
they differ from Western domestic femicide. One group has an
average age of seventeen; the other group's average age is thirtysix. The age difference is a statistically significant one.

Families Killing Their Young Women
The study's findings indicate that honor killings accelerated
significantly in a 20-year period between 1989 and 2009.[6] This
may mean that honor killings are genuinely escalating, perhaps as a
function of jihadist extremism and Islamic fundamentalism, or that
honor killings are being more accurately reported and prosecuted,
especially in the West, but also in the East. The expansion of the
Internet may account for wider reporting of these incidents.
The worldwide average age of victims for the entire population is
twenty-three (Table 1). This is true for all geographical regions.
Thus, wherever an honor killing is committed, it is primarily a crime
against young people. Just over half of
www.meforum.org/2646/worldwide-trends-in-honor-killings these victims were

Morsal O, a 16-year-old German-Afghan girl,
was killed in May 2008 by her 24-year-old
brother Ahmad Sobair O. He stabbed her
twenty-three times in a parking lot in Hamburg,
Germany, because of her alleged impure moral
conduct. Murder of teenage or young adult
women by their fathers or other close male
relatives is characteristic of classic honor
killings and is not a pattern in non-immigrant
Western populations.
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against young people. Just over half of these victims were
daughters and sisters; about a quarter were wives and girlfriends of the perpetrators. The remainder included
mothers, aunts, nieces, cousins, uncles, or non-relatives.
Honor killings are a family collaboration. Worldwide, two-thirds of the victims were killed by their families of
origin. (See Table 1). Murder by the family of origin was at its highest (72 percent) in the Muslim world and at its
lowest in North America (49 percent); European families of origin were involved almost as often as those in the
Muslim world, possibly because so many are first- or second-generation immigrants and, therefore, still tightly
bound to their native cultures. Alternatively, this might be due to the Islamist radicalization of third or even fourth
generations. Internationally, fathers played an active role in over one-third of the honor murders. Fathers were
most involved in North America (52 percent) and least involved in the Muslim world; in Europe, fathers were
involved in more than one-third of the murders.
Worldwide, 42 percent of these murders were carried out by multiple perpetrators, a characteristic which
distinguishes them considerably from Western domestic femicide. A small number of the murders worldwide
involved more than one victim. Multiple murders were at their highest in North America and at their lowest in
Europe. In the Muslim world, just under a quarter of the murders involved more than one victim. Additional
victims included the dead woman's children, boyfriend, fiancé, husband, sister, brother, or parents.
Worldwide, more than half the victims were tortured; i.e., they did not die instantly but in agony. In North
America, over one-third of the victims were tortured; in Europe, two-thirds were tortured; in the Muslim world,
half were tortured. Torturous deaths include: being raped or gang-raped before being killed; being strangled or
bludgeoned to death; being stabbed many times (10 to 40 times); being stoned or burned to death; being
beheaded, or having one's throat slashed.
Finally, worldwide, 58 percent of the victims were murdered for being "too Western" and/or for resisting or
disobeying cultural and religious expectations (see Table 1). The accusation of being "too Western" was the exact
language used by the perpetrator or perpetrators. Being "too Western" meant being seen as too independent, not
subservient enough, refusing to wear varieties of Islamic clothing (including forms of the veil), wanting an
advanced education and a career, having non-Muslim (or non-Sikh or non-Hindu) friends or boyfriends, refusing
to marry one's first cousin, wanting to choose one's own husband, choosing a socially "inferior" or non-Muslim
(or non-Sikh or non-Hindu) husband; or leaving an abusive husband. There were statistically significant regional
differences for this motive. For example, in North America, 91 percent of victims were murdered for being "too
Western" as compared to a smaller but still substantial number (71 percent) in Europe. In comparison, only 43
percent of victims were killed for this reason in the Muslim world.
Less than half (42 percent) of the victims worldwide were murdered for committing an alleged "sexual
impropriety"; this refers to victims who had been raped, were allegedly having extra-marital affairs, or who were
viewed as "promiscuous" (even where this might not refer to actual sexual promiscuity or even sexual activity).
However, in the Muslim world, 57 percent of victims were murdered for this motive as compared to 29 percent
in Europe and a small number (9 percent) in North America.

What the Age Differences Mean
This study documents that there are at least two different kinds of honor killings and/or two different victim
populations: one made up of female children and young women whose average age is seventeen (Table 3), the
other composed of women whose average age is thirty-six (Table 5). Both kinds of honor murders differ from
Western domestic femicide.
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Western domestic femicide.
In the non-immigrant West, serious domestic violence exists which includes incest, child abuse, marital rape,
marital battering, marital stalking, and marital post-battering femicide. However, there is no cultural pattern of
fathers specifically targeting or murdering their teenage or young adult daughters, nor do families of origin
participate in planning, perpetrating, justifying, and valorizing such murders. Clearly, these characteristics define
the classic honor killing of younger women and girls.
The honor murders of older women might seem to resemble Western-style domestic femicide. The victim is an
older married woman, usually a mother, who is often killed by her husband but also by multiple perpetrators (30
percent of the time). Worldwide, almost half (44 percent) of those who kill older-age victims include members of
either the victim's family of origin or members of her husband's family of origin. (See Table 5.) This is extremely
rare in a Western domestic femicide; the husband who kills his wife in the West is rarely assisted by members of
his family of origin or by his in-laws.
However, in the Muslim world, older-age honor killing victims are murdered by their own families of origin nearly
two-thirds of the time. This suggests that the old-world custom has changed somewhat in Europe where the
victim's family of origin participates in her murder only one-third (31 percent) of the time. Thus far, in North
America, no members of the family of origin have participated in the honor killing of an older-age victim. Whether
North America will eventually come to resemble Europe or even the Muslim world remains to be seen, as this
will be influenced by immigration and other demographic factors. Finally, nearly half the older-age victims are
subjected to a torturous death. However, the torture rate was at its highest (68 percent) in Europe for female
victims of all ages. The torture rate was 35 percent and 51 percent in North America and in the Muslim world,
respectively.
Worldwide, younger-age victims were killed by their families of origin 81 percent of the time. In North America,
94 percent were killed by their family of origin; this figure was 77 percent in Europe and 82 percent in the
Muslim world. (See Table 3.) In North America, fathers had a hands-on role in 100 percent of the cases when
the daughter was eighteen-years-old or younger (See Table 4). Worldwide, younger-age women and girls were
tortured 53 percent of the time; however, in Europe, they were tortured between 72 and 83 percent of the time
—significantly more than older-age women worldwide.

Western Responses to Honor Killing
Many Western feminists and advocates for victims of domestic violence have confused Western domestic
violence or domestic femicide (the two are different) with the honor killings of older-age victims. Representatives
of Islamist pressure groups including Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Canadian Islamic
Congress, various academics (e.g., Ajay Nair, Tom Keil), activists (e.g., Rana Husseini), and religious leaders
(e.g., Abdulhai Patel of the Canadian Council of Imams) have insisted that honor killings either do not exist or
have nothing to do with Islam; that they are cultural, tribal, pre-Islamic customs, and that, in any event, domestic
violence exists everywhere.[7] Feminists who work with the victims of domestic violence have seen so much
violence against women that they are uncomfortable singling out one group of perpetrators, especially an
immigrant or Muslim group. However, Western domestic femicide differs significantly from honor killing.[8]
Former National Organization for Women (NOW) president Kim Gandy compared the battered and beheaded
Aasiya Hassan[9] to the battered (but still living) pop star Rihanna and further questioned whether Hassan's
murder was an honor killing:
Is a Muslim man in Buffalo more
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Is a Muslim man in Buffalo more likely to kill his wife than a Catholic man in Buffalo? A Jewish man
in Buffalo? I don't know the answer to that, but I know that there is plenty of violence to go around
—and that the long and sordid history of oppressing women in the name of religion surely includes
Islam, but is not limited to Islam.[10]
At the time of the Hassan beheading, a coalition of domestic violence workers sent an (unpublished) letter to the
Erie County district attorney's office and to some media stating that this was not an honor killing, that honor
killings had nothing to do with Islam, and that sensationalizing Muslim domestic violence was not only racist but
also served to render invisible the much larger incidence of both domestic violence and domestic femicide. They
have a point, but they also miss the point, namely, that apples are not oranges and that honor killings are not the
same as Western domestic femicides.
One might argue that the stated murder motive of being "too Westernized" may, in a sense, overlap substantively
with the stated and unstated motives involved in Western domestic femicide. In both instances, the woman is
expected to live with male violence and to remain silent about it. She is not supposed to leave—or to leave with
the children or any other male "property." However, the need to keep a woman isolated, subordinate, fearful,
and dependent through the use of violence does not reflect a Western cultural or religious value; rather, it reflects
the individual, psychological pathology of the Western batterer-murderer. On the other hand, an honor killing
reflects the culture's values aimed at regulating female behavior—values that the family, including the victim's
family, is expected to enforce and uphold.
Further, such cultural, ethnic, or tribal values are not often condemned by the major religious and political leaders
in developing Muslim countries or in immigrant communities in the West. On the contrary, such communities
maintain an enforced silence on all matters of religious, cultural, or communal "sensitivity." Today, such leaders
(and their many followers) often tempt, shame, or force Muslim girls and women into wearing a variety of body
coverings including the hijab (head covering), burqa, or chadari (full-body covering) as an expression of
religiosity and cultural pride or as an expression of symbolic resistance to the non-Muslim West.[11] Muslim men
are allowed to dress like Westerners, and no one challenges the ubiquitous use of Western technology, including
airplanes, cell phones, the Internet, or satellite television as un-Islamic. But Muslim women are expected to bear
the burden of upholding these ancient and allegedly religious customs of gender apartheid.
It is clear that Muslim girls and women are murdered for honor in both the West and the East when they refuse to
wear the hijab or choose to wear it improperly. In addition, they are killed for behaving in accepted Western or
modern ways when they express a desire to attend college, have careers, live independent lives, have nonMuslim friends (including boyfriends with whom they may or may not be sexually involved), choose their own
husbands, refuse to marry their first cousins, or want to leave an abusive husband. This "Westernization" trend
also exists in Muslim countries but to a lesser extent. Allegations of unacceptable "Westernization" accounted for
44 percent of honor murders in the Muslim world as compared to 71 percent in Europe and 91 percent in North
America.
Tempted by Western ideas, desiring to assimilate, and hoping to escape lives of subordination, those girls and
women who exercise their option to be Western are killed—at early ages and in particularly gruesome ways.
Frightening honor murders may constitute an object lesson to other Muslim girls and women about what may
happen to them if they act on the temptation to do more than serve their fathers and brothers as domestic
servants, marry their first cousin, and breed as many children as possible. The deaths of females already living in
the West may also be intended as lessons for other female immigrants who are expected to lead subordinate and
segregated lives amid the temptations and privileges of freedom. This is especially true in Europe where large

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segregated lives amid the temptations and privileges of freedom. This is especially true in Europe where large
Muslim ghettos have formed in the past few decades. It is particularly alarming to note that in Europe 96 percent
of the honor killing perpetrators are Muslims.
The level of primal, sadistic, or barbaric savagery shown in honor killings towards a female family intimate more
closely approximates some of the murders in the West perpetrated by serial killers against prostitutes or
randomly selected women. It also suggests that gender separatism, the devaluation of girls and women,
normalized child abuse, including arranged child marriages of both boys and girls, sexual repression, misogyny
(sometimes inspired by misogynist interpretations of the Qur'an), and the demands made by an increase in the
violent ideology of jihad all lead to murderous levels of aggression towards girls and women. One only has to kill
a few girls and women to keep the others in line. Honor killings are, in a sense, a form of domestic terrorism,
meant to ensure that Muslim women wear the Islamic veil, have Muslim babies, and mingle only with other
Muslims.
Since Muslim immigration and, therefore, family networks are more restricted in North America than in Europe,
honor-killing fathers may feel that the entire burden for upholding standards for female behavior falls heavily upon
them and them alone. This may account for the fact that fathers are responsible 100 percent of the time for the
honor murders of the youngest-age victims. In Europe and in the Muslim world, that burden may more easily be
shared by sons and brothers, grandfathers, uncles, and male cousins.

What Must Be Done
How can this problem be addressed? Immigration, law enforcement, and religious authorities must all be included
in education, prevention, and prosecution efforts in the matter of honor killings.
In addition, shelters for battered Muslim girls and women should be established and multilingual staff
appropriately trained in the facts about honor killings. For example, young Muslim girls are frequently lured back
home by their mothers. When a shelter resident receives such a phone call, the staff must immediately go on high
alert. The equivalent of a federal witness protection program for the intended targets of honor killings should be
created; England has already established such a program.[12] Extended safe surrogate family networks must be
created to replace existing family networks; the intended victims themselves, with enormous assistance, may
become each other's "sisters."
In addition, clear government warnings must be issued to Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu immigrants and citizens:
Honor killings must be prosecuted in the West, and perpetrators, accomplices, and enablers must all be
prosecuted. Participating families should be publicly shamed. Criminals must be deported after they have served
their sentences.
Western judicial systems and governments have recently begun to address this problem. In 2006, a Danish court
convicted nine members of a clan for the honor murder of Ghazala Khan.[13] In 2009, a German court
sentenced a father to life in prison for having ordered his son to murder his sister for the family honor while the
20-year-old son was sentenced to nine and a half years.[14] In another case, a British court, with the help of
testimony from the victim's mother and fiancé, convicted a father of a 10-year-old honor murder after the crime
was reclassified;[15] and, for the first time, the Canadian government informed new immigrants:
Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal
abuse, "honour killings," female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of
these crimes are severely punished under Canada's criminal laws.[16]

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these crimes are severely punished under Canada's criminal laws.[16]
Islamic gender apartheid is a human rights violation and cannot be justified in the name of cultural relativism,
tolerance, anti-racism, diversity, or political correctness. As long as Islamist groups continue to deny, minimize,
or obfuscate the problem, and government and police officials accept their inaccurate versions of reality, women
will continue to be killed for honor in the West.
The battle for women's rights is central to the battle for Europe and for Western values. It is a necessary part of
true democracy, along with freedom of religion, tolerance for homosexuals, and freedom of dissent. Here, then, is
exactly where the greatest battle of the twenty-first century is joined.
Phyllis Chesler is emerita professor of psychology and women's studies at the Richmond College
of the City University of New York and co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology
and the National Women's Health Network. The author wishes to thank Jonathan Francis
Carmona, graduate student at Hunter College, CUNY, for the statistical tests for this study, and
Prof. Howard Lune, director of the Graduate Social Research Program at Hunter College.

Table One: Entire Population (N = 230)
REGION

Worldwide North America Europe Muslim World

AVERAGE AGE

23

25

22

23

Killed by Family of Origin1,2 66

49

66

72

BY PERCENTAGE

Family Position1
-- Daughter/Sister

53

50

49

56

-- Wife/Girlfriend

23

27

34

17

-- Other3

24

33

27

27

Paternal Participation4

37

53

39

31

Multiple Perpetrators

42

42

45

41

Multiple Victims1

17

30

7

21

Tortured1

53

39

67

49

-- "too Western"

58

91

71

43

-- "sexual impropriety"

42

9

29

57

Motive4

1 Significant according to a chi square test.
2 Family of origin includes fathers, mothers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, and male cousins.
3 "Other" includes mothers, aunts, cousins, and no familial relation.

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3 "Other" includes mothers, aunts, cousins, and no familial relation.
4 Significant according to a Pearson correlation test.

Table Two: Women Only, All Ages (N = 214)
REGION

Worldwide North America Europe Muslim World

AVERAGE AGE

23

26

21

23

Killed by Family of Origin1,2 69

52

66

75

BY PERCENTAGE

Family Position1
-- Daughter/Sister

56

52

53

58

-- Wife/Girlfriend

24

28

37

17

-- Other3

20

20

10

25

Paternal Participation4

39

52

42

33

Multiple Perpetrators

42

45

44

40

Multiple Victims1

18

30

7

21

Tortured1

54

35

68

51

-- "too Western"

58

89

73

44

-- "sexual impropriety"

42

11

27

56

Motive4

1 Significant according to a chi square test.
2 Family of origin includes fathers, mothers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, and male cousins.
3 "Other" includes mothers, aunts, cousins, and no familial relation.
4 Significant according to a Pearson correlation test.

Table Three: Females 25 Years of Age and Younger (N = 129)
REGION

Worldwide North America Europe Muslim World

AVERAGE AGE

17

18

18

17

Killed by Family of Origin1,2 81

94

77

82

BY PERCENTAGE

Family Position1
-- Daughter/Sister

74

94

67

73

-- Wife/Girlfriend

14

0

20

14

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-- Wife/Girlfriend

14

0

20

14

-- Other3

3

6

13

13

Paternal Participation4

54

88

54

46

Multiple Perpetrators

46

75

46

38

Multiple Victims1

17

30

8

20

Tortured1

53

25

72

47

-- "too Western"

57

88

74

38

-- "sexual impropriety"

43

12

26

62

Motive4

1 Significant according to a chi square test.
2 Family of origin includes fathers, mothers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, and male cousins.
3 "Other" includes mothers, aunts, cousins, and no familial relation.
4 Significant according to a Pearson correlation test.

Table Four: Females 18 Years of Age and Younger (N = 68)
REGION

Worldwide North America Europe Muslim World

AVERAGE AGE

15

15

14

13

Killed by Family of Origin1,2 89

90

86

90

BY PERCENTAGE

Family Position1
-- Daughter/Sister

82

100

78

79

-- Wife/Girlfriend

8

0

13

6

-- Other3

10

0

9

15

Paternal Participation4

70

100

68

61

Multiple Perpetrators

39

80

32

32

Multiple Victims1

25

29

16

30

Tortured1

55

30

83

58

-- "too Western"

55

80

67

41

-- "sexual impropriety"

45

20

33

59

Motive4

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1 Significant according to a chi square test.
2 Family of origin includes fathers, mothers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, and male cousins.
3 "Other" includes mothers, aunts, cousins, and no familial relation.
4 Significant according to a Pearson correlation test.

Table Five: Females 26 Years of Age and Older (N = 51)
REGION

Worldwide North America Europe Muslim World

AVERAGE AGE

36

40

31

37

0

31

65

BY PERCENTAGE
Killed by Family of Origin1,2 44
Family Position1
-- Daughter/Sister

24

0

13

37

-- Wife/Girlfriend

55

89

87

26

-- Other3

21

11

0

37

Paternal Participation4

8

0

13

7

Multiple Perpetrators

30

11

43

30

Multiple Victims1

9

29

8

5

Tortured1

45

44

53

44

-- "too Western"

56

88

69

38

-- "sexual impropriety"

44

12

31

62

Motive4

1 Significant according to a chi square test.
2 Family of origin includes fathers, mothers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, and male cousins.
3 "Other" includes mothers, aunts, cousins, and no familial relation.
4 Significant according to a Pearson correlation test.

Methodology
This study analyzes 172 incidents and 230 honor-killing victims. The information was obtained from the Englishlanguage media around the world with one exception. There were 100 victims murdered for honor in the West,
including 33 in North America and 67 in Europe. There were 130 additional victims in the Muslim world. Most
of the perpetrators were Muslims, as were their victims, and most of the victims were women.
The perpetrators and victims in this study lived in the following twenty-nine countries or territories: Afghanistan,
Albania, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Gaza Strip, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel,
Italy, Jordan, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, 9/11
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Italy, Jordan, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria,
Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the West Bank.
In general, statistically significant interactions were found for age, geographical region, the participation of multiple
perpetrators (mainly members of the victim's family of origin, including the victim's father), family position,
multiple victims, the use of torture, and the stated motive for the murder. Between 1989 and 2009, honor killings
also escalated over time in a statistically significant way.
Worldwide, the majority of victims were women; a mere 7 percent were men. Only five men were killed by their
families of origin whereas the rest of the male victims were killed by the families of the women with whom they
were allegedly consorting or planning to consort with either within or outside of marriage. The murdered male
victims were usually perceived as men who were unacceptable due to lower class or caste status, because the
marriage had not been arranged by the woman's family of origin, because they were not the woman's first cousin,
or because the men allegedly engaged in pre- or extramarital sex. Men were rarely killed when they were alone;
81 percent were killed when the couple in question was together.
Although Sikhs and Hindus do sometimes commit such murders, honor killings, both worldwide and in the West,
are mainly Muslim-on-Muslim crimes. In this study, worldwide, 91 percent of perpetrators were Muslims. In
North America, most killers (84 percent) were Muslims, with only a few Sikhs and even fewer Hindus
perpetrating honor killings; in Europe, Muslims comprised an even larger majority at 96 percent while Sikhs were
a tiny percentage. In Muslim countries, obviously almost all the perpetrators were Muslims. With only two
exceptions, the victims were all members of the same religious group as their murderers.
In the West, 76 individuals or groups of multiple perpetrators killed one hundred people. Of these perpetrators,
37 percent came from Pakistan; 17 percent were of Iraqi origin while Turks and Afghans made up 12 and 11
percent, respectively. The remainder, just under a quarter in all, came from Albania, Algeria, Bosnia, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Guyana, India, Iran, Morocco, and the West Bank.
[1] "Ending Violence against Women and Girls," State of the World Population 2000 (New York: United
Nations Population Fund, 2000), chap. 3.
[2] BBC News, June 22, 2004.
[3] Yotam Feldner, "'Honor' Murders–Why the Perps Get off Easy," Middle East Quarterly, Dec. 2000, pp.
41-50.
[4] See, for example, SoundVision.com, Islamic information and products site, Aug. 24, 2000; Sheila Musaji,
"The Death of Aqsa Parvez Should Be an Interfaith Call to Action," The American Muslim, Dec. 14, 2007;
Mohammed Elmasry, Canadian Islamic Congress, Fox News.com, Dec. 12, 2007; Mustafaa Carroll, Dallas
branch of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, FoxNews.com, Oct. 14, 2008.
[5] Phyllis Chesler, "Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?" Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2009, pp.
61-9.
[6] According to the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, the most widely used measure of
correlation or association.
[7] See, for example, SoundVision.com, Aug. 24, 2000; Musaji, "The Death of Aqsa Parvez Should Be an
Interfaith Call to Action"; Elmasry, Fox News.com, Dec. 12, 2007; Carroll, FoxNews.com, Oct. 14, 2008.
[8] Chesler," Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?"; "A Civilized Dialogue about Islam and Honor
Killing: When Feminist Heroes Disagree," Chesler Chronicles, Mar. 2, 2009; "Jordanian Journalist Rana
Husseini on 'Murder in the Name of Honor: The True Story of One Woman's Heroic Fight Against an
Unbelievable Crime,'" Democracy Now, Oct. 21, 2009.

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Unbelievable Crime,'" Democracy Now, Oct. 21, 2009.
[9] Fox News, Feb. 16, 2009.
[10] Kim Gandy, NOW president, "Below the Belt. No Woman, No Culture Immune to Violence against
Women," Feb. 20, 2009.
[11] BBC News, Oct. 5, 2006; Aisha Stacey, "Why Muslim Women Wear the Veil," IslamReligion.com, Nov
15, 2009.
[12] James Brandon and Salam Hafez, Crimes of the Community: Honour-based Violence in the UK
(London: Centre for Social Cohesion, 2008), pp. 136-40.
[13] Brussels Journal, July 2, 2006.
[14] Deutsche Welle (Bonn), Dec. 29, 2009.
[15] The Guardian (London), Dec. 17, 2009.
[16] The National Post (Don Mills, Ont.), Nov. 12, 2009.

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