Arab-Israeli charged with killing daughter over Muslim boyfriend

A Christian Arab-Israeli man has been charged with stabbing his teenage daughter to death for being in a relationship with a Muslim man.

According to a criminal indictment filed in an Israeli district court this week, Sami Karra has been accused of murdering his 17-year-old daughter, Henriette, a day after she graduated from high school in what prosecutors describe as a suspected "honor killing".

Henriette had reportedly been violently threatened by her family prior to her death, with her father hitting her on at least one occasion. 

Police had been previously informed of the danger Henriette's father posed and seem to have failed to protect the teen. 

According to The Independent, Henriette was found dead with stab wounds to the neck in her family home in the Israeli city of Ramla on June 13.

The indictment says that the victim's family objected to her year-old relationship with a Muslim man, acting upon their dissent with threats and "abuse".

The father considered that Henriette's actions "damaged the honor of the family and made him feel ashamed," based on documents seen by the Jerusalem Post.

This pushed her to flee the family home in late May, while her boyfriend was temporarily in jail for an unspecified charge, and stay with her boyfriend's mother for some time.

Henriette was living in fear and sent messages to a friend, saying, "They (my family) are sending people to kill me."

The indictment adds that Henriette's family threatened her and her boyfriend's mother, trying to pressure Henriette to return.

Her father allegedly found the victim at her friend's house the next month and began threatening and slapping her. 

After a joint meeting with a social worker, Henriette agreed to return home.

She allegedly told a family member that she plans on converting to Islam for her boyfriend, and the former informed her father.

Henriette was found dead soon after, a day after she graduated from high school. Sami Karra has been accused of slaughtering his daughter in reaction to the news and has been arrested. 

Karra denies the accusation. Whether or not the court finds him guilty remains to be seen.

The crime has caused public outrage online:

Many social media users opposed the use of "honor killing" to label the crime. "Calling it an 'honor killing' tries to normalize and humanize it," writes Muslim activist and lawyer Qasim Rashid.