Niece who witnessed honor killing was told to keep quiet

16-year-old recounts murder of aunt Bussina Abu Ghanim, 31, a mother of six who was shot dead for wanting to study

By Avi Lewis 12 July 2015, 9:40 pm

Edit

Illustrative photo of police at a crime scene in the central city of Ramle, June 1, 2015. (Flash90)

A 16-year-old girl who witnessed her aunt being shot dead last October in a suspected honor killing in central Israel was told to keep quiet by the murderers — her uncles.

Buthaina Abu Ghanim, 31, an Israeli-Arab mother of six, was killed by her previous husband, together with her husband at the time, while she waited in her parked car in the central Israeli city of Ramle.

She was killed because she wanted to study and advance professionally, police believe.

“I ran to my aunt’s car, next to the driver’s seat. Then he [Abu Ghanim’s ex-husband] shot three bullets at her. He looked at me, and made a motion with his finger for me to shut up and I nodded my head,” the niece said. The girl is now under police protection, to prevent her from being assassinated as well.

“I frantically called my cousin. I told him him they killed [Buthaina]. He did not believe me, and he hung up the phone. “Then I called another cousin, and told him that she had died; he did not believe me either, he called me a liar and hung up the phone. I called again and told him I was not a liar then he said, ‘Even better,'” the teenager said, according to a report on the Hebrew news site, Walla.

Abu Ghanim was the ninth female member of her family to have been killed in the past 14 years. She had divorced her first husband several years before her murder.

An investigation by the Israel Police Central District found that the victim’s husband and ex-husband, both aged 35, conspired along with the ex-husband’s 29-year-old brother to murder her for her independence and educational aspirations.

Between 2000 and 2007, eight members of Abu Ghanim’s family were murdered, including her stepmother, Naifa, and her 16-year-old sister, Sharihan.

Members of Abu Ghanim’s family have been indicted and charged for two of the eight murders.

Another of Abu Ghanim’s sisters, Dalia, went missing in 2008, prompting suspicions that the then-16-year-old had been abducted and possibly murdered. Police have been unable to locate her.

Adiv Sterman and Lazar Berman contributed to this report.