Where Is the Honor in 'Honor Killing' Your Own Children?

What did the report find?

On August 30, 2011, Physicians for Human Rights — the Boston-based group — released a report on the siege of Misrata, built on interviews its team conducted in June just after Gaddafi's loyalists were expelled. The findings were grim: four eyewitnesses reported that Gaddafi's troops forcibly detained 107 civilians and used them as human shields to guard military munitions south of Misrata. One father told investigators that soldiers forced his two young children to sit on a military tank and threatened the family: "You'll stay here, and if NATO attacks us, you'll die, too." The report also documented rape used as a weapon of war, attacks on hospitals, clinics, and ambulances, and military orders indicating Gaddafi's troops were ordered to starve Misrata's civilians by pillaging food caches and blocking humanitarian aid.

What happened in Tomina?

The most harrowing account came from the town of Tomina, near Misrata. Three sisters, aged 15, 17, and 18, were allegedly assaulted by soldiers at a school during the two-month siege. When they returned home, their father slit their throats — a so-called honor killing, carried out to lift the shame on his family. Lead author Richard Sollom's team also reported that some in Tomina had stood against the practice, including a well-known sheikh who publicly advocated that raped women and girls should be seen as brave and as bringing honor to their families.

What didn't the report confirm?

Sollom was careful about the limits of the evidence: the team found no evidence that rape was widespread — though the fear of sexual assault was endemic — and found nothing to confirm or deny the lurid reports that Gaddafi's troops were issued Viagra-type drugs to sustain systematic rape. The group investigated only abuses by Gaddafi's forces and was not positioned to assess allegations against the rebels or NATO, while noting that NATO should investigate credible claims against its own forces.

What did the wider record show?

PHR was not alone. The previous week, Human Rights Watch had said it collected evidence strongly suggesting Gaddafi's forces went on a spate of arbitrary killing as Tripoli fell. Amnesty International accused pro-Gaddafi guards of raping child detainees — while also reporting that Libyan rebels were abusing children and holding migrant workers prisoner. All three groups called on both sides to respect prisoners. "Individual perpetrators need to be brought to justice and held to account for their crimes," Sollom said. The father's act in Tomina remains the question the headline asks: a crime committed in the name of honor, against the victims of a war crime, by the person who should have protected them.