[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 190 (Wednesday, December 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H15322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MURDER IN THE NAME OF RELIGION--CANADA

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, freedom of expression is under attack in our 
neighbors to the north, Canada. Yesterday, a 16-year-old girl was 
strangled to death by her father in Toronto, Canada. The reason for the 
homicide? The girl refused to wear the traditional Muslim head scarf, 
the hijab.
  Her school friends said that she wanted to be more ``western,'' but 
her devout Muslim father wouldn't have it. But she would remove her 
scarf at school and change into western clothes. School officials said 
that she was an energetic and popular student, but she lived in fear of 
her father. Her father has been charged now with murder, and her older 
brother has been charged with accessory to the crime.
  This is yet another example of religion gone wrong. In a society that 
values freedom and tolerance, this kind of behavior in the name of 
religion is unacceptable. Her father needs to be prosecuted and sent to 
prison. His actions are not acceptable in our culture. No one has the 
natural right to murder their children in the name of religion.
  And that's just the way it is.

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