Fadime Sahindal
1975–2002.
Front figure against honour-related oppression.
Fadime Sahindal, who was of Turkish-Kurdish origin, came with the family to Sweden at the beginning of the 1980s. As a student she studied social studies in Sundsvall and Östersund.
In her 20s, she began a relationship, which was not accepted by relatives. After harassment and threats from male relatives, Sahindal made a police report and contacted the media. It was in connection with this that she became known to the public.
She became a symbol of other immigrant women in similar situations. At a seminar on integration issues in Parliament in 2001, she criticized the cultural pattern in some immigrant groups and also the inability of society to support women who were in a situation similar to hers.
On a visit to the home 21 January 2002, Fadime Sahindal was murdered. The father was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.
Representatives of Kurdish organisations and other immigrant groups in Sweden took a strong distance from the murder of Fadime Sahindal.
After that, several organisations, networks and funds were formed in support of vulnerable immigrant women and the subsequent debate was about honour killings and a lack of support for immigrant women.
Among the large numbers of people attending the funeral service in Uppsala Cathedral on 5 February 2002 there were representatives of the Government and the Royal Family.
Burial site: 0313-0861
Image description: Fadime Sahindal, 1998. Photo: Eva Tedesjö / IBL. [The image is cropped]
Click here for an uncropped image
