ABSTRACT
Umeå, Northern Sweden, 1996. A 16-year-old woman is murdered by her brother and cousin. The two young offenders are convicted of murder and threats. Though witnesses inform the police that the male family members had gathered together and decided that the young woman had to die, these men were not brought to court. The mother of the young woman informed the police about the threats and about the physical violence directed towards her. Her brother-in-law called her shortly after the murder: ‘Now it’s your turn, whore.’ Dahouk, Iraqi Kurdistan, 1999. A 19-year-old woman who grew up in
Sweden is taken to her parents’ hometown. She thinks that she is going to marry an elder relative, but instead she is murdered by her father and three uncles. Her mother and sister witness the murder and the sister escapes to Sweden. When two of the uncles return, they are convicted of murder and given life sentences. The sister is the prosecutor’s key witness. The mother is too afraid to speak in court with the uncles present. However, she agrees to show a taped interview in which she tells the police about the murder, nodding when asked if this is the truth. Uppsala, Central Sweden, 2002. A 24-year-old woman is murdered by her
father in front of her two sisters and her mother. She had left the family years before and was living with a death threat. Her father is brought to court and charged with murder. One of the sisters testifies against him. In the District Court, the mother uses her right as a close relative not to testify. In the Court of Appeal, she gives her testimony which supports her husband, whose story – as was clear to many – appeared to be a lie. These three cases, all very well known in Sweden, involve young women
murdered by close relatives; young women who have become symbols of women’s exposure to terrible acts of violence committed in the name of honour. These three cases also involve other women, particularly sisters and mothers. Female relatives of the murdered young women play important roles in the judicial proceedings following the murders. They risk their lives
in support of the murdered woman by testifying against their close male relatives; in some instances, they support the murderer of their own daughters. It is clear that these women, sisters and mothers, all act in different ways. The aim of this chapter is to focus on some of these ‘other women’, namely the mothers. How can we understand mothers’ interpretations of themselves in relation to other women – and to men – in a violent everyday life in which cultural concepts of honour are used?
