Prosecutor cites “cultural aspect” of honor killing inside and outside of the family in asking for high bail at Arizona father’s hearing.
The prosecutor called Noor Almaleki’s attempted (now completed – she died today) slaying an ‘honor killing,’ and expressed concern in court about the community of supporters behind her father, Faleh Hassan Almaleki, who helped in his attempted escape. The Almalekis are from Iraq.
At the link above, you can watch the father’s first appearance in court where he is read the charges and the prosecutor makes the case for not allowing him bail, or setting his bail very high.
Here’s my transcript of part of what the prosecutor says the state believes about his attempt to escape:
We can’t be naive and not admit that there is a cultural aspect to this, and there may be people that would support him – including his family – but also others who share his beliefs. This was an attempt at an honor killing.
The defendant tries to hide behind his moral convictions, and yet he also fled. The state has serious concerns that this defendant would attempt to flee if he were to be released and that he does have the resources and others that would be willing to help him, as they obviously did.
If the prosecutor keeps talking about culture and the “cultural aspect” to the case this could get sensationalized into headlines like “Culture of honor killing goes on trial in Arizona” or some such thing.
Noor Almaleki’s friends and other who knew her have been communicating at this thread here at Talk Islam.
