Norway: Father sentenced to 40 days for threatening to kill daughter
On August 26th, the Sandefjord court sentenced a father who threatened to kill his daughter to 40 days in prison. The threats were made at the Sandefjord police station. The father was also sentenced to pay compensation of 50,000 kroner for the traumatic experience, half of what a rape victim would have gotten. This was because her trauma was not only due to the threats, and the victim had to deal with serious problems at home even before the threats were made. The father was also sentenced to pay his daughter for lost income and court expenses.
In court she only answered a couple of questions. The prosecutor therefore read out her testimony at the police station. Her father was not present for these proceedings.
Last October her father told a police agent that he'll kill his daughter. He said it was better to go to prison for murder than that the family's honor would be ruined.
The daughter, "Alina" (19), came from Kurdistan 10 years ago. Today she lives at a secret address. Alina is afraid her father or somebody else from the community will do good on the threats. Her mother had asked her to join her on a summer vacation to Kurdistan and Alina feared that she'll be married off or killed.
When she was 16 she entered a child protection center by the request of both Alina and her parents. She lived there for several period. When she was 18 she lived for a short time at home. After a while at the crisis center for women, she got her own apartment in Sandefjord. She was living there for 3-4 months when her parents contacted the police.
Alina says she fought daily with her father since she began school, but at the same time, she doesn't see him as a strict Muslims.
Q: what did you do that got him to threaten you?
It's difficult for Alina to answer.
A: I didn't come home by 9-10pm on the weekend, like he say I should. And he didn't like any of my friends, neither the Norwegians nor the foreigners. He called them bad things. Papa didn't like that some of them smoked, even worse was that I did it.
Her parents told a police agent they'll kill her on October 6th. On October 7th, she spent the night by her parents. She was only told of the threats on October 13th, a week later. she got a new place to live. She stopped going to school during the day and quit her job.
"I don't want to have contact with them. I'm afraid for my life, and I don't dare live in Sandefjord, where I have all my friends and my network. I feel very alone sometimes," she says.
According to the police agent, the parents weren't seen as criminals who will seriously do good on the threats immediately.
According to the defense lawyer, Tove Nissen-Sollie, 40 days is not a sufficient punishment compared to what his daughter had to go through and how she must live for the rest of her life. Though the usual punishment for such threats is 15-30 days, Tove Nissen-Sollie says that it's too mild a punishment in such a case. It doesn't show what what the victim had gone through. She can't take chances and has to assume the threats are real. The lawyer also says the compensation is too low. The victim will have to live out her life with these threats.
Hege Storhaug of Human Rights Service is also very critical, and says that it's taken for granted that if an ethnic Norwegian would make death threats against his daughter in a police station, it would be dealt with harshly. She thinks the sentence didn't reflect how serious a threat of murder is, and that the court should have sent a clearer signal that Norway doesn't accept threats based on sexual fascism.
On the other hand, Unni Wikan, a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, says that a court had never handed down a prison sentence for honor murder threats which did not involve physical violence. She says it is not so important how harsh the sentence it, it is still a clear message and a very positive development. Law professor Alf Petter Høgberg agrees that such sentencing is very rare in the Norwegian context.
Wikan says that such cases usually don't get to court. The girls go to the police and child protection service, but they don't dare testify. In this case, the girl's testimony to the police was used, which can offer a solution for other cases too.
Source: Sandefjords Blad 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Norwegian)
On August 26th, the Sandefjord court sentenced a father who threatened to kill his daughter to 40 days in prison. The threats were made at the Sandefjord police station. The father was also sentenced to pay compensation of 50,000 kroner for the traumatic experience, half of what a rape victim would have gotten. This was because her trauma was not only due to the threats, and the victim had to deal with serious problems at home even before the threats were made. The father was also sentenced to pay his daughter for lost income and court expenses.
In court she only answered a couple of questions. The prosecutor therefore read out her testimony at the police station. Her father was not present for these proceedings.
Last October her father told a police agent that he'll kill his daughter. He said it was better to go to prison for murder than that the family's honor would be ruined.
The daughter, "Alina" (19), came from Kurdistan 10 years ago. Today she lives at a secret address. Alina is afraid her father or somebody else from the community will do good on the threats. Her mother had asked her to join her on a summer vacation to Kurdistan and Alina feared that she'll be married off or killed.
When she was 16 she entered a child protection center by the request of both Alina and her parents. She lived there for several period. When she was 18 she lived for a short time at home. After a while at the crisis center for women, she got her own apartment in Sandefjord. She was living there for 3-4 months when her parents contacted the police.
Alina says she fought daily with her father since she began school, but at the same time, she doesn't see him as a strict Muslims.
Q: what did you do that got him to threaten you?
It's difficult for Alina to answer.
A: I didn't come home by 9-10pm on the weekend, like he say I should. And he didn't like any of my friends, neither the Norwegians nor the foreigners. He called them bad things. Papa didn't like that some of them smoked, even worse was that I did it.
Her parents told a police agent they'll kill her on October 6th. On October 7th, she spent the night by her parents. She was only told of the threats on October 13th, a week later. she got a new place to live. She stopped going to school during the day and quit her job.
"I don't want to have contact with them. I'm afraid for my life, and I don't dare live in Sandefjord, where I have all my friends and my network. I feel very alone sometimes," she says.
According to the police agent, the parents weren't seen as criminals who will seriously do good on the threats immediately.
According to the defense lawyer, Tove Nissen-Sollie, 40 days is not a sufficient punishment compared to what his daughter had to go through and how she must live for the rest of her life. Though the usual punishment for such threats is 15-30 days, Tove Nissen-Sollie says that it's too mild a punishment in such a case. It doesn't show what what the victim had gone through. She can't take chances and has to assume the threats are real. The lawyer also says the compensation is too low. The victim will have to live out her life with these threats.
Hege Storhaug of Human Rights Service is also very critical, and says that it's taken for granted that if an ethnic Norwegian would make death threats against his daughter in a police station, it would be dealt with harshly. She thinks the sentence didn't reflect how serious a threat of murder is, and that the court should have sent a clearer signal that Norway doesn't accept threats based on sexual fascism.
On the other hand, Unni Wikan, a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, says that a court had never handed down a prison sentence for honor murder threats which did not involve physical violence. She says it is not so important how harsh the sentence it, it is still a clear message and a very positive development. Law professor Alf Petter Høgberg agrees that such sentencing is very rare in the Norwegian context.
Wikan says that such cases usually don't get to court. The girls go to the police and child protection service, but they don't dare testify. In this case, the girl's testimony to the police was used, which can offer a solution for other cases too.
Source: Sandefjords Blad 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Norwegian)
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