Religion of peace? The autopsy result is blood-curdling.
A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeasternTurkey in a gruesome honor killing carried out because she reportedlybefriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.
Acting on a tip, police discovered the body of the girl, identifiedonly as M.M., in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a2-meter-deep hole dug under a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta, atown in the southeastern province of Adıyaman, the news agency reported.
The body was found in December, around 40 days after M.M. wentmissing. She is being identified by her initials because she was underthe age of 18. Her father and grandfather are suspected in the murder.
A subsequent postmortem examination revealed that M.M. had asignificant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating thatshe was buried alive and conscious, forensic experts told the newsagency. “The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to ourfindings, the girl – who had no bruises on her body and no sign ofnarcotics or poison in her blood – was alive and fully conscious whenshe was buried,” one anonymous expert said.
The girl’s father and grandfather have been formally arrested andjailed pending trial over her killing, according to the agency. Thefather is reported to have said in his testimony that the family wasunhappy that M.M. had male friends.
The girl was reported as missing and no clues about herdisappearance were found for 40 days. Her mother was arrested alongwith the father, Ayhan, and grandfather, Memi, but later released. Thetwo men were sent to prison by a local court and did not speak in thecourt.
Police had found the body of the girl using an anonymous tip sayingthat M.M. had been killed based on a decision by a family council andburied under the chicken pen, daily Milliyet reported. The family hasnine children, including the girl, and was reported to have toldneighbors that she was missing. The girl had made a complaint to policeabout her grandfather two months before she went missing, saying thathe beat her because she talked to boys.
Family councils consist of family elders; honor killings are usually decided by such groups.