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Georgia Man Charged in 'Honor Killing'

CNN
Posted: 2008-07-08 22:21:56
Filed Under: Crime News, Nation News
ATLANTA (July 8) - A Pakistani man is charged with killing his 25-year-old daughter in Georgia because she wanted out of an arranged marriage, police said.

Chaudhry Rashid, 54, of Jonesboro, an Atlanta suburb, appeared in court Tuesday afternoon to face murder charges in the death of Sandeela Kanwal, according to court records.

Daughter Dead After Arranged Marriage

Chaudhry RashidJessica McGowan, The Atlanta Journal & Constitution / AP

A Pakistani man living in Georgia killed his 25-year-old daughter out of anger that she wanted to end her arranged marriage, police said. Chaudhry Rashid, sitting among other inmates in court Tuesday, faces murder charges.

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He was arrested early Sunday, after his wife called police at about 2 a.m. She reported that she had been awakened by screaming but couldn't understand the language, a Clayton County police report said. She said she was afraid and left the house to call police.

Officers found Kanwal dead in an upstairs bedroom of the home, according to the police report.

Rashid's wife told authorities Kanwal recently had been married in Pakistan -- an arranged marriage, she said. The young woman's husband was living in Chicago, Illinois, police said, but Kanwal remained at her father's home and worked at a metro Atlanta Wal-Mart for a brief time.

"The victim was not interested in marrying, nor remaining married to her husband," the police report said, citing information authorities received from Rashid's wife. "This was causing a great deal of friction between the victim and her father," so much so that the two had not spoken in two months, the report said.

Police found Rashid sitting behind a vehicle in the driveway, and he seemed "distraught and possibly mournful," the report said. He told police, "My daughter is dead." But when asked how she died, Rashid did not answer -- "he just dropped his head."

Ligature marks were found on Kanwal's body and police found an iron and cord by the doorway of her bedroom, where she was found. A necklace was found downstairs next to what appeared to be a prayer table.

"Apparently she and the father had argued over the marriage and the fact that it was arranged, and at some point during the altercation he did end up killing his daughter," said Clayton County police spokesman Tim Owens.

Rashid's public defender, Christine Van Dross, did not immediately return a call from CNN seeking comment. Court records show Rashid's preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 24.

Neighbor Veronda Luckett said the family has always been "relatively quiet." She said two females were seen at the home, and "they seemed to be decent, lovely people."

"Honor killings" -- the slaying by family members of a woman or girl thought to be bringing them shame -- are usually kept quiet, making it difficult to determine how frequently they occur. The United Nations Population Fund estimated in September 2000 that as many as 5,000 women and girls fall victim to such killings each year.

"My immediate reaction was that this is an anomaly in the South Asian community," Ajay Nair, associate dean of multicultural affairs at Columbia University, told CNN on Tuesday. "Most South Asian-American families enjoy wonderful relationships within their families."

"I think there's ways that we can rationalize it and make sense of it, particularly in thinking about new immigrant communities in the U.S. and thinking about some of the struggles that they face and the generation gap and the cultural differences that children do face," he said. "I think there are some issues there, but by and large, this isn't a rampant problem within South Asian communities. What is a problem, I think, is domestic violence, and that cuts across all communities."

Nair said he believes a "significant human rights campaign" is needed to address such killings.

"I think more people need to recognize this as a global issue. It's not just a U.S. issue. I think it happens across the world, and I think people need to recognize domestic violence and any kind of violence related to women as a serious, serious issue."

2008-07-08 15:43:14
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1643 comments

vilailack7962134 07:35:55 AM Dec 23 2008

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Try these sites if you want to waste some more time and money http://RecordOnlineGuide.blogspot.com

harrieta2 06:18:15 PM Jul 10 2008

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sfsmiami says to vote Obama 08. I say if you think what Bush did was bad, wait until you see what Carter II has in mind. You will wish for the good old days of W. Vote McCain in 08 for the good of the country.

campgal 07:50:08 AM Jul 10 2008

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THIS AMERICA, YOU WANT TO LIVE HERE LIVE BY CIVILIZED PEOPLES LAWS.PUT THE A$$HOLE AWAY FOR LIFE, BETTER YET EXECUTE THE MURDERER.

donedaytona 10:41:32 PM Jul 09 2008

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Who is this idiot named Nair ? He wants to pretend that this is not a normal occurance in South-East Asian communities, but it somehow is an issue in America ? This dumb-ass has it backwards.

cshae89546 08:55:23 PM Jul 09 2008

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Here in Barack Obama's Goddamn U.S. of KKK-A good liberals are taught to respect and embrace the ethic and cultural practices and traditions of others less we all become like those antipathic people from small towns in Pennsylvania and the Midweat who can only speak English. This man is from Pakistan an Islamic country where a womans place in the family and in society is strictly circumscribed. Why the outrage at what happened? It is their custom and culture and tradition.

wend520 08:47:48 PM Jul 09 2008

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the indians and muslims do the same backward stupid crimes against their own daughters. sobs

joy1038 08:45:40 PM Jul 09 2008

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something like this happened in St. Louis, MO several years ago

cookie15059 08:36:25 PM Jul 09 2008

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OK FIRST of all what this man did was wrong. He deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail and he basically dishonered his family for the crime he committed.SECOND of all, this is not what Islam is about. All you biased uneducated people out there who decide to talk shit about other people's religions need to get their damn facts straight before they say shit. Not all muslims do this. Especially not alot of the muslims that live here. So all of you ******** need to watch what you say. Not all muslims are bad. Certain people choose to do certain things. Just like their are F*ed up christians, jews, catholics, hindus, and everyone of all relgion's out there. When a Christian guy does something its the man;s fault, when a muslim does it, it all of a sudden become's an issue about the whole religion. WATCH WHAT YOU SAY IF YOU DONT KNOW SHIT!

markletmein 07:51:58 PM Jul 09 2008

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Hang the death-cultist .

rhcpu2 07:36:36 PM Jul 09 2008

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what honor does the family have now

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