"..a father in Toronto killed his five-year-old daughter because she was the child of his first wife and another man. Pakistani elders, operating according to Islamic law, awarded him custody of the child..."

More accurately, the father DID NOT BELIEVE she was his daughter. He accused his first wife of having this child with another man. There is no evidence to show she was not his daughter, and her biological mother testified that it was his child.

The father said to a jailhouse informant that he didn't want to take the child, but his mother and the tribal elders forced him to do it.

I hope Mr. Khan and his second wife, who participated and helped cover-up the murder, rot in jail. They are vile child-killers. My heart broke over this little girl, who loved kindergarten, who loved her new country, and just wanted $10 to pay for her school picture.

Ms. Blatchford of the Globe and Mail has been doing a first-rate job to date of detailing the events of the trial. I don't believe that Canada has ever seen the likes of it.

However, Ms. Blatchford has not yet made the necessary and direct connection between this horrific "honour" killing and the ugly, misogynistic mandates of islam. As a journalist of some regard in Canada, I trust that she will not pull her punches. The barbaric murder of this delighful little girl deserves nothing less.

The Paki elders should be charged as accessories to murder.

jay

To Jay: the word is "Pakistani", not "Paki". "Paki" is no more a polite shorthand for persons of Pakistani origin than "bigot" is for persons of United States origin. Islam degrades and dehumanises people. Let us not commit the same errors.

Earl, I am not a fan of Islam but to mix this with even fundamentalist Islam is an error. This jerk is a maniac not a religious fanatic. Islam is an evil faith but this character transcends even that. Christie Blatchford need not make irrelavant connections.
Malcolm

well then Annoyed, can everybody stop calling me an "Aussie"? call it as it is.....

MGM:

No doubt, by Western standards, Khan's behaviour is inexplicable, even quite mad. That said, his evidence at trial suggests that he made supplications to, and sought guidance from, allah throughout the killing.

The shariah contains elaborate protocols regarding both "fornication" (ie., adultery) and establishing paternity (see Umdat al-Salik n.10 and n.11). While Khan does not appear to have made either of the requisite formal declarations of adultery or denial of paternity, he certainly spoke publicly denying the paternity of little Farah.

And Khan has not entered an insanity plea as his defence. He knew damned well what he was doing and had the theological basis for so acting.

So, I'd suggest that coupled with the misogyny rampant throughout islamic societies, Khan's belief that Farah's mother was an adulteress and his denial of Farah's paternity could have foretold of Farah's murder.

I believe that Ms. Blatchford has every journalistic duty to connect these dots. This was an "honour" killing at least indirectly supported by islamic teachings.

Note: The shariah states that "killing without right is, after unbelief, one of the very worst enormities". (U a-S o1.0). But, significantly, although the shariah permits a range of gruesome "retaliations" for murder, o1.2 states that: "The following are not subject to retaliation...(4) a father...for killing their offspring...". Thank heavens there is secular, Canadian criminal justice to ensure that Khan gets what he deserves.

Annoyed,

I meant exactly what I wrote. If I had seen civilized behavior here, I would have written "Pakistani".

jay

Ah, so racism is okay in certain circumstances. Glad we're clear on that.

Sigh.

Annoyed, racism would consist of a blanket dislike of all Pakistanis (in this particular instance) for no reason other than they ARE Pakistanis. I would give odds that I have more contact with Pakistanis on a regular basis than you do. I work in Saudi Arabia. There's a LOT of Pakistani foreign workers here. The Saudis treat them like they're one step above slaves. They're overworked and underpaid, way underpaid.

Now, I admit that I don't know how any of them would act at home, but I haven't seen any sign that one of them would beat a 5 year old girl to death.

The victim of an honor killing usually did something perceived to justify it. Farah's only offense was to exist. In such a barbaric incident, even considering cultural norms, I see no reason to be polite about how I feel about the people involved - not all Pakistanis, mind you, just the people involved.

Sigh ... and counts to ten ...

Jay,

My problem was not that you attacked the persons concerned --- we are agreed that what they did was barbaric, inhuman etc. Rather my problem was that on reading of their actions, you used a racial slur to attack them. You called them "pakis".

Why the racial slur? Would it be okay to call a black criminal a "nigger" or a "wog" and say "oh, I was simply critiquing his actions"? Of course not. So, in the case of these persons, by all means attack what they did. Even call them names, if that requires shorter words. But don't stand throwing around racial insults and then complaining when you get caught out.

Dear Annoyed: Thank you for educating us that Paki is considered a racial slur in the UK Commonwealth (where I presume you are writing from, from your use of the word "wog" which is practically unknown in the US.) To the best of my knowledge, "Paki" is not considered a racial slur in the United States.

Before you get on your high horse and start lecturing us "bigotted" Yanks on not being "up" on all the latest UK politically correct terminology, you should probably know that the word "Oriental" which is commonly used in the UK press to denote a Chinese or Japanese person is considered a "racial slur" in the US. Shame on you Brits for not knowing that! Moreove, we never call people from the Indian sub-continent "Asians" as you do -- we call them East Indians or people from the Indian Sub-continent.

Different cultures have different racial code words and taboos, and it's bizarre of you to expect that everyone in the world should know everyone else's code words. Heck, it's hard enough to keep track of all the current politically correct terminology in the United States; Lord help us if we have to also be responsible for keeping track of the current politically correct terminology in all the other Western countries as well.

"I don't believe that Canada has ever seen the likes of it."

there was another "honor killing" in Vancouver.

A girl ran off and married a infidel, and was later hunted down and killed by her Islamic family.
Honor Killing is quite common among Islamic families in the Islamic world. So malcolm Mallard, I hate to correct you, but it isn't even restricted to so called islamic fundamentalists, but rather, throughout the Islamic cult.

Looks like Annoyed is indeed from UK.
Somehow i understand his position,for they have to be very careful over there with what they say about muslims...
Britain is the first european country on the list, to become a muslim country,under the sharia law;France will follow.
The fact that they already salute their future masters,it will help them to physically survive as second class citizens in their own(former)country.
Adela,USA.

I am disappointed to see the defensive postings disparaging Annoyed. How is politely pointing out a racist term deserving of such an attack? Regardless of whether "Paki" is considered racist in America or not it is considered offensive to Pakistanis period, and that is the issue here. Just because you don't consider it racist does not mean that it is not, that's why it is called inferential racism. So Susan, spare us the finger pointing and stick to the issue at hand.

It is nowhere mentioned in Islam that a child of another man should be handed over to a step father......they are illiterate villagers who have not studied their religion nor do they have even a bit knowledge of Islam. They have their own created laws. They are the people from the culture who decide by their own law to 'hand over your sister to be rapped by the man whose sister/daughter was raped by a man in her family'…such people are an stigma on Islamic civilization.

Dear brothers and sisters of a different religion, please stop talking against any religion particularly about my religions, Islam, until you have read a religion thoroughly with your very opened eyes.

Incidents like that of Farha Khan’s are not unique….they are very common and do happen in every country, in every civilization and in any religion. If I start giving you the real life examples, You will definitely SHUT YOUR MOUTH UP!!

As for Mr. Khan, I would say that how come he could be so weak to accept a child forcefully by his family members and how come he could be so strong to kill an innocent child and cut her into pieces…..if he really hated her that much, there are lots of people looking forward to adopt a child or he could at least return her to her real mom.

I would also say that he and his wife, another culprit of this assassination, deserve first degree murder and must be given hardest time of their life behind the bars for the rest of their lives.