Three Egyptian Women Killed In ‘Honor Killing,’ Five Men Arrested

Three Egyptian women were beaten and strangled to death in the latest so-called “honor killing” in the conservative region. Ten male relatives killed the three women, reportedly believing that they’d had affairs.

Police believe the 10 men stormed the house of a mother and two daughters. The men then strangled them and beat them with sharp tools. One of the suspects allegedly confessed the the crime.

After they were dead, the men wrapped the women’s bodies in blankets, tied them with weights, and threw them into the Nile River. One of the men reportedly gave a detailed account of the killings, which were apparently meant to protect the family’s honor.

The official added that one woman’s body was found floating on the surface of the Nile near Esna, close to the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor. Police are still searching for the remaining two bodies.

Five of the 10 men involved in killing the three Egyptian women were reportedly arrested on Friday. Honor killings are not unusual in Egypt, especially in the nation’s conservative south and in the countryside, where women’s actions are considered to bring shame on their families.

Egyptian papers often document incidents where fathers, brothers, and even sons kill their female relatives because they believe they are having an affair outside of marriage. The practice of honor killings is against the law in Egypt and perpetrators are prosecuted if they are arrested for the crime.

However, Courts are sometimes sympathetic to the accused and give lighter sentences as a result. The United Nations estimates that about 5,000 honor killings happen around the world each year. However, many women’s groups in the Middle East and Southwest Asia have asserted that the number is closer to 20,000.

Despite the focus mainly on honor killings against women, men can also be victims by the family of the woman they allegedly had an affair with.

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