filia.die frauenstiftung

“And we should never forget that freedom must always be defended, again and again.”

With these words the German-Turkish author Necla Kelek reminded the some 200 women and men who had come together in remembrance of Morsal Obeidi in Hamburg on the grey Tuesday morning of 16 December 2008 of the democratic values that we often “take for granted”. filia supported the event in response to an urgent application.
Ms Obeidi was brutally stabbed to death by her brother on 15 May 2008 for “reasons of honour” – with the approval of her original family, who considered the “western” lifestyle of their daughter and sister to be in crass contrast to their own standards and values. The young German-Afghan woman lived independently of her family and claimed the right to develop self-reliantly here in Germany. The people listening to Necla Kelek had come to commemorate her. Tina Brandl sang “Steh auf Schwester” (Stand up sister), and numerous white roses were laid down in front of her photo. Many women associated with the aims of filia attended.

At just the same time the first of ten days of the case against the brother started before the Higher Regional Court. The question posed by Nazanin Borumand (spokeswoman of the initiative against “Murders for honour”, “Never forget Hatun!”) is still echoing: “What is the German state doing to protect and strengthen women and girls who are perfectly integrated and live with western values?”
Two months later, on 13 February 2009, in sleet, carrying candles and a photo of Morsal, a few women come together before the court building in Hamburg for the second vigil on the occasion of the pronouncement of judgement. Sonja Schelper, Managing Director of filia, was there too and reports, “Because there had already been great debates about recognition of a (female) expert beforehand, many of us feared a “mild” judgement for manslaughter in the heat of the moment. However, the decision was different. Lifelong imprisonment on the grounds of malicious murder for base motives.”

“Morsal’s bad luck was that she was a woman”, said the judge, delivering his grounds for the judgement. He argued that if the perpetrator is familiar with German legal and value concepts, then according to the concepts of the legal community in Germany, killing a person for reasons of so-called honour is considered to be murder for base motives. This applied to the accused, who had been living in Germany for many years.

After the judgement was pronounced some of the relatives went on a rampage. Sonja Schelper reports: “Warned by representatives of the press, we were able to withdraw a little in time before the father of the murdered girl and her murderer furiously flung the commemorative candle onto the street and carried away the photo of his daughter. After that there was great media attention, photos, interviews, and many debates that started on the street and continued in the underground railway and other forms of transport. Thanks to the good PR work of Terres des Femmes, everyone in Germany is aware of this case. The unambiguous and clear judgement will hopefully contribute to preventing such cruel deeds against women from being repeated.”
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