Man's Penis Cut Off In "Honor Killing"

76-Year-Old Suspected Of Shooting 58-Year-Old Who Allegedly Flirted With His Wife

(AP)  Austrian authorities said Thursday they arrested an elderly Turkish-born man suspected of fatally shooting a younger Turkish associate and slicing off the victim's penis in what investigators called an "honor killing."

Police in the town of Wimpassing in the province of Lower Austria made the arrest shortly after the Wednesday night slaying, and said the suspect -- described only as a 76-year-old native Turk -- did not resist.

Officials said witnesses claimed the man allegedly shot the victim, a 58-year-old Turkish-born man, in the street with a 12-gauge shotgun at point-blank range and then cut off his penis with a kitchen knife, leaving him to bleed to death.

Two teams of surgeons worked at the scene to save the man but were unable to revive him, authorities said.

Investigators believe the suspect apparently was jealous that the younger man had flirted with his wife, and had sought him out as "a question of honor," said Franz Polzer, head of the region's criminal investigations office.

Honor killings, driven by the view that a family's honor is paramount, are an ancient tradition associated with Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq and Iran as well as tribal areas in Pakistan and some Arab societies.

The suspect initially fled into a nearby house after the slaying, but witnesses alerted police to his location and he walked out and surrendered shortly thereafter, Polzer said.

Police said the man appeared to have purchased the shotgun earlier on Wednesday. They said he had disposed of the knife, but led officers to the spot where he stashed the weapon.

Polzer told the Austria Press Agency that the suspected gunman told investigators he suspected the victim of having had an affair with his wife for the past 20 years. The suspect said he had warned the victim a decade ago to break it off.

During questioning, the suspect showed no remorse and instead expressed relief "that he preserved his honor," officials said in a statement.

It was the first known attack of its kind in Austria, which is home to about 200,000 Turks -- Europe's third-largest Turkish expatriate population after Germany and France.

But so-called honor killings have occurred elsewhere in Europe:

• In August, a federal court in Germany ordered a retrial for two brothers acquitted of fatally shooting their sister -- an attack that prosecutors said was meant to punish the Turkish-German woman for her Western lifestyle.
  
  
• In Britain in July, the father and uncle of an Iraqi Kurd woman who was murdered for falling in love with the wrong man were sentenced to life in prison for ordering the killing.
  
  
• In 2006, a Danish court sentenced a Pakistani man to life imprisonment for ordering the slaying of his 19-year-old daughter, who was gunned down two days after her wedding because her family allegedly disapproved of her choice of husband.

[teeus]

"...Befor religion, barbarism reigned..."

Which religion are you referring to (as if I didnt already know)? Because if you mean Christianity, for example, the Greeks had a very complex set of laws well before the birth of Christ. They were able to decide a societal moral structure.

Or are you saying ANY religion gives a society the moral structure they need? Even those people who worship trees?

"...The only laws were made at the discretion of the stongests and what ever he desired at that time. Without regard to morality, ethics, or the good of the group..."

So, all the laws that came after religion were moral and for the greater good? You can''t think of a single example in which a society had rules and a structure for the greater good without Christianity? Really? You need to get out more.

"..So religion is the basis of morality..."

BBBBBUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Faulty logic. Relgion can exist without morality (The Spanish Inquisition. The Crusades. Salem Witch Trials)and morality can exist without religion--at least the religion you are think of.

[tucano2]

We had to look twice for the venue of this eye-for-an-eye (so to speak) revenge. We thought at first it was Los Angeles among the 40,000 to 50,000 Illegal Alien gang members that Sen. D. Feinstein (D-Ca) proposes to "sweet-talk" using BILLIONS of our American taxdollars instead of simply enforcing current law and deporting these criminals once (or up to the 6th time) and for all time. WHERE''s OUR FENCE. Dianne?

[grazinggoat]

Fact is that this kind of barbarism is simply part of Arab Islamic culture... ... sure, tucker & liberals will try to defend these animals - even though they''''ll skewer Christians, Israelis, westerners & the United States specifically at will - but the facts are plainly visisble, and really not even disputed by Muslims themselves... they''''ll proudly talk about these things...
Posted by dogsoul at 12:21 PM : Oct 11, 2007

-Dog, you''re wrong on this one. Do you know how Indians (of India) marry? at what age? Similar behaviour in China, then Japan. I''ll not submit here a paper on the culture of India, but you have to understand that our standards fit our needs, not the others nations, living in different climate, conditions and cultures. You just cannot ''uniformize'' behaviours allover the world. Every nation had evolved in a different from the others, in order to better survive. I mean not long ago, in the USA we used to allow girls to marry at 14. Some states have shifted this age to 16 and some to 18. What is standrad in some our states is not in others.

-For the honor killing is not strictly reserved to Muslims. I''m reminding you of the incident with O.J. Simpson... and many unreported others... it''s unfortunate, but divorce exists and can easily apply as a substitute to the unjustified on going killing. What is sweet in this specific incident, for once it''s the man''s tool that has been punished this time. The woman is spared! lol!

[drummer94]

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[superdem]

SHUT UP about the Founding Fathers. Who cares if they were religious ? They still killed the Indians and stole their land, kept their women in servitude, held slaves, burned witches, and grew tobacco, the scourge of the earth. This country was STOLEN from its native people by invaders from a more technologically advanced society. Many times it was the Christians who were killing the natives for rejecting this foreign religion. No different than the Taliban. The Christians killed the native people wherever they went, be it North America, South America, Easter Island, the Hawaiian Islands, you name it, the Christians killed people. And let''s not forget the endless wars among the Christians themselves in Europe, before the killing began over here. So take your religious *** and stuff it.

[superdem]

Atheists are not causing all the riots and wars on this planet - it''s the religious fanatics who can believe in virgin births and ascensions into heaven and virgins in the afterlife and every sort of nonsense. These are the people who will kill their own family members who disappoint them in the eyes of others. They have no idea what human beings ARE, much less what human rights are. You don''t need religion to tell you not to treat another person badly. You only need common sense, and an understanding of cause and effect.

[doc18d]

I didn''t say bible, I said religion. Befor religion, barbarism reigned. The only laws were made at the discretion of the stongests and what ever he desired at that time. Without regard to morality, ethics, or the good of the group. So religion is the basis of morality. Morality does change based on the society involved and the religious beliefs of that society.

[teeus]

"...Arent moral beleifs and ethics therfor derived from religion?"
Posted by doc18d at 04:21 PM : Oct 11, 2007

Not necessarily. We can decide as a society that certain things are wrong--like murder, stealing--and that moral compass can come from many sources. If your moral compass is based on religion, thats great. But it does NOT mean that withhout religion I dont have morals.

[teeus]

"...It was founded by men with fervent religious beliefs..."

Well, thats actually a line that the relgious right uses even though it''s not entirely true. The founding fathers ran the gamut from reverends to agnostics to athiests. Only the Moral Majority of today feels the need to revise history.

"...the Separation of church and state was not to keep religion or religious beliefs out of government, but to keep government out of religious choice..."

Yes, and one of those choices can be not to have religion at all. And I don''t need state sponsorship of religion--Christian or otherwise, thank you.

[cmp271]

What religion forgives murder? Obviously religion is a violent organization. Islam has become a terrorist group, especially if they condone murder.

It should be obvious to women religion doesn''t believe in any rights for women Why would any woman want to belong to any established religion?
)O(

[ladyjaneg]

Honest, sincere question....no politics attached. What did he do with "it"?

[klingon69]

For those blathering on about "American culture", you might like to know that until very recent times (last 20 years) a spouse murdering another spouse and/or lover was considered "justifiable homicide."

The US recognized "honor killings" as legal for much longer than we have considered them crimes.

We just did not call them honor killings, we called them justifiable homicide.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 01:06 PM : Oct 11, 2007

It was considered a crime of passion. If you came home and caught your spouse in bed with another, you could kill them and use the "Crime of Passion" defense. Usually got off as well.

[klingon69]

In the early early 90s there was a much publicized case of an islamic family that had moved to the US. The youngest daughter wanted to be American. She wanted to wear jeans, go uncovered, go to parties, date...etc.
Her father killed her by strangulation and neither him, his wife or the girls sisters saw anything wrong with it.

[doc18d]

So how do we as a people define the tennants of our ethical behavior? How do we dicern the proper way to treat each other if there is no moral basis in these decicions. Aren''t moral beliefs used to create ethics, and aren''t ethics used to define our core beleifs. Aren''t moral beleifs and ethics therfor derived from religion?

[johnny_chaos]

ha ha. this isnt about religion, its about ignorant a$$holes machismo. the losers who practice "honor" killings live in and eat dust, are on the bottom of the social and economic scale and pretty much have nothing. having thier woman remind them they suck isnt acceptable to thier already frail egos. false pride causes violence. this is the same as ghetto and trailor culture in america and the basically violent hazing culture of english youth. trash on trash violence, its funny all the same though.

[doc18d]

Tuck

This country was not founded by athiests, you are corect. It was founded by men with fervent religious beliefs. The Separation of church and state was not to keep religion or religious beliefs out of government, but to keep government out of religious choice. What in youyr opinion does a secular government consist of in regard to religious beliefs?

[draftreid]

Too bad it wasn''t that hag Hillary snipping off Bill''s Johnson...maybe I''d even consider voting for her if she did.

But nah, too much of a typical gutless MoveOn.Org paid shrew - doesn''t even have the courage to divorce the pervert.

It''s character, stupid - which the two of you lack in volumes.

[doc18d]

your great tuckness...

"The principles I follow are found in the US Constitution."

"The Christian Taliban wants to impose their "values" on everyone by force which makes them no different than the Muslim Taliban. Except the Christian Taliban is already in this nation. And, is well represented in the current White House, Congress, most State houses and court houses."

And these Christian Taliban would be the same Christian, church going God fearing men who wrote that constitution you say you follow.

[godofredo29]

After looking at the title, I find it interesting that, unless I spell it with spaces to fool the filtering software, I can''t use the word p e n i s. Is there a double standard here?

[whispyseas]

'' ... after a few thousand years of technological innovation, i decided that 14 billion year old civilizations probably swim around in their own crafted eternities, and probably figured out that their earth did not come before eternity ... infinite lines of resolution, infinitely fast refresh rate: infinite dances each infinitely small moment ... choose just one to view at a time! ... so joking ... ''

'' ... authorities beg for offices and jobs claiming to be responsible parties ... then when things go wrong, people who never claimed to be responsible are punished while authorities that claim responsibility go unpunished ... if a crime occurs, throw the responsible authority in prison where they belong and the irresponsible people back into the water where they belong ... ''

'' ... little naked girls know, put one naked girl on top of the news desk rallyd round the sick beds playing get well soon and feed the world, and there will be little naked girls on all the newsdesks ... which is why the little naked girls put armed dressed boys on the newsdesks, to give them a sporting chance ... ''