Turkish girl, 16, 'buried alive by her father because she had friendships with boys'

[alienlovechild 75]

A 16-year-old Turkish girl died after being buried alive under a chicken coop by relatives because she talked to boys.

The body of Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied in a 6ft hole dug in the courtyard of her family's home in Kahta, south-eastern Turkey, 40 days after she had been reported missing. The hole had been cemented over.

The teenager had a large amount of soil in her lungs and stomach - showing she suffered a slow and agonising death.

'The post mortem result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl – who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood – was alive and fully conscious when she was buried,' said a forensics expert.

Suspicion that her death had been especially brutal led to the commissioning of a report by university scientists after the original post-mortem examination.

Medine Meme's father and grandfather have now been arrested and jailed awaiting trial. The girl's mother was arrested, but later released.

It has emerged that the girl had made a complaint to police about her grandfather two months before she went missing, saying that he beat her because she talked to boys.

In addition her father Ayhan is said to have told relatives that he was unhappy that his daughter - one of nine children - had male friends.

Police made the grisly discovery in December following a tip-off from an informant.

After Medine's body was found in December, her mother Immihan said: 'She tried to take refuge at the police station three times, and she was sent home three times.'

The case has caused outrage in Turkey and reopened the debate over so-called honour killings which are particularly prevalent in the predominantly Kurdish south-east of the country.

Such killings are usually decided by a council of relatives which consist of the elders of the family.

Official figures state there are more than 200 such killings a year, around half of all murders in Turkey.

One commentator wrote on the website of a religious TV station: 'The punishment for whosoever should kill with intent is the hell where he will languish forever. Allah has cursed him and prepared great pain for him

'You named your daughter after the holy city of Medina but your mind is left over from the earlier Age of Ignorance.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...ships-boys.html

Edited February 5, 2010 by alienlovechild

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I'm usually not an eye-for-an-eye kind of guy but this sort of thing really makes one wonder if there aren't instances where that's exactly the right response.

[FortLaudy 10]

So sad for the girl, wow! It's still pretty common for people to take the law into their own hands in various different communities around the world, based on their own convictions, I saw this in Africa a lot where a whole community would kill a guy by stoning/beating if they caught him stealing/murdering/raping without ever calling the cops. There are so many of these cases in the middle east, I'll never forget the one where a Saudi prince had his own daughter killed by firing squad for having a relationship without his permission.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Who could do this to one's own child? Dad needs to hung by the nads while someone scoops out his eyes with a spoon.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Proof that even the most jaded of us can still be shocked by the depths of depravity some can descend to.

[Darnell 8,479]

exactly 'which sect' of Islam did the father 'belong' to ?

Edited February 5, 2010 by Darnell

[Peikko 1,575]

Obviously not everyone is under the impression that this is a normal or welcome way to treat anyone, otherwise the crime would not have been uncovered and the perpetrators wouldn't be languishing in jail. The only thing that will prevent these types of crimes is educating those who's cultural interpretation of Islam allows for this type behaviour that it simply is not acceptable nor will it be tolerated. I have to assume that this is a radical and presumably uneducated interpretation of Islam, and that it is not something that is a central tenet of the religion.

[FortLaudy 10]

Google "Honor Killings"

It's still pretty common, not just amongst muslims, other religions too.

But since you asked about Islam, here's a link:

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_s...me-gallery.html

[Craneman 2]

So sad for the girl, wow! It's still pretty common for people to take the law into their own hands in various different communities around the world, based on their own convictions, I saw this in Africa a lot where a whole community would kill a guy by stoning/beating if they caught him stealing/murdering/raping without ever calling the cops. There are so many of these cases in the middle east, I'll never forget the one where a Saudi prince had his own daughter killed by firing squad for having a relationship without his permission.

What "LAW" did she break, stoning someone for murder = burried alive for talking to boys.

[Peikko 1,575]

Google "Honor Killings"

It's still pretty common, not just amongst muslims, other religions too.

But since you asked about Islam, here's a link:

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_s...me-gallery.html

Hence why I stated that in my opinion it was a 'cultural interpretation' and an uneducated one at that. We know the perpetrators are muslim because of the quote in the OP.

Edited February 5, 2010 by Madame Cleo

[FortLaudy 10]

What "LAW" did she break, stoning someone for murder = burried alive for talking to boys.

Yes, this was more of what's known as an "honor" killing, for sure. It was just too something I saw in Africa, where people would take the law into their own hands based on their beliefs, the stoning/killings could also be for something as simple as cursing at someone else's ancestors.

[Calypso 465]

This is as bad as that:

A recent phenomenon of Honor suicides occurs in Turkey, probably in relation to the growing determination of Turkish authorities to severely punish honor killings (i.e. applying life-sentences not only for the perpetrator, but for all the family-members who took part in the decision-making). There have been many cases when people order or pressure a woman to kill herself; this may be done so that the people avoid penalties for murdering her. A special envoy for the United Nations named Yakin Erturk, who was sent to Turkey to investigate suspicious suicides amongst Kurdish girls, was quoted by The New York Times as saying that some suicides appeared in Kurdish-inhabited regions of Turkey to be "honour killings disguised as a suicide or an accident."

See source here

[FortLaudy 10]

I have to assume that this is a radical and presumably uneducated interpretation of Islam, and that it is not something that is a central tenet of the religion.

This is still heavily under debate...

[Peikko 1,575]

Exactly unless and until you change the mind set that makes honor killing not only acceptable, but essential as part of their culture, they will go on, in some form or another. Does Islam send out outreach programs to poor muslim regions to educate them that this interpretation of Islam is actually against what is deemed Islamic to the educated? If it doesn't it probably should.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Honor killers are SAVAGES! They should be put down like a mad dog.