Nizar Baksh, 31, murdered his cousin Najma Mahmoud, 30 on October 16 in Saudi Arabia. Both are from Pakistan. Mahmoud reportedly came to the kingdom on a pilgrimage and overstayed.
Baksh cheerfully confessed to the crime, but it was hardly necessary: his fingerprints were all over the blood murder weapon. Mahmoud's throat had been slashed.
Baksh said he killed Mahmoud because "her behavior was immoral." Her family and neighbors deny it, but why bother? "Immoral behavior" has no definite meaning (rather like the capital crime of "spreading corruption on earth" in the Iranian mullocracy). Mahmoud may have talked to boys, refused an arranged marriage, disobeyed Baksh--it could have been anything showing that she didn't know her place as a Muslim woman. There is nothing so dishonorable as an honor killing.
It will be interesting to see how Baksh fairs in the Saudi legal system. It would be no surprise to find that in Saudi Arabia, as in much of the Arab world, honor killings are treated more leniently than other murders. On the other hand, there is considerable discrimination against Asians in the Gulf countries.
