Mariam Yousif Stabbed 14 Times in Brutal Honor-Killing after Converting to Islam to Marry a Muslim

Australian courts have ruled that, if a man is provoked into a rage by his wife, he cannot be found guilty of murder, but only of the lesser crime of manslaughter. Since any man who kills his wife or daughter in an honor-killing will say that she provoked him, Australia has declared that honor-killings are not murder, because the man is partially justified.

Daily Telegraph—Mariam Yousif, who converted to Islam to marry her husband at 16, was stabbed 14 times in a “brutal and frenzied” attack inside her Wiley Park unit in 2012.

Her 54-year-old husband, Yassir Hassan, was found guilty of manslaughter instead of murder because he told the court he was provoked by his wife during an argument when she “questioned his manhood”.

Ms Yousif’s mother Hanan Zaki said provocation was a “ridiculous” defence for her daughter’s killer.

She is angry the state government has taken almost a year to act on recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry that would ensure the provocation defence was not used to escape murder charges.

“How many women need to die before this law will change?” Ms Zaki said.

“I need it to change and I need change now. I could not save my daughter but I want to save the life of another woman.”

The parliamentary inquiry was launched after Sydney man Chamanjot Singh was sentenced to six years in prison for slitting his wife’s throat with a box cutter.

He successfully argued he was provoked because his wife, Manpreet Kaur, had threatened to leave him.

In the case of Yassir Hassan, Justice Peter Garling said in his sentencing that the killing happened because Hassan “was provoked into losing his self-control, which explains why he is guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter and not murder”. (Continue Reading.)

For more on honor killings in Islam, watch our ABN special here (with Pamela Geller):