While Saudi Women Mourn New Victims of Honor Killing, Saudi Men Blame Feminists for Their Crimes

A new honor killing crime in Saudi Arabia has received wide attention in the Kingdom. A man who was trying to kill his own sister to "cleanse their honor", mistakenly shot three other women who were on the university bus he attacked.

The incident came under the spotlight after a man named Khaled Al-Saadi tweeted about his sister's serious situation at a Saudi hospital, indicating that she was shot in the spine and was in a critical condition. 

Translation: “My sister was shot in the spine by a man who wanted to murder his sister, but ended up shooting everyone on the university bus.. My sister needs to be transferred to a hospital immediately.”

In a thread, the brother sought the help of activists and authorities to transfer his sister to a better hospital to be treated.

Translation: “One man is fighting for his sister’s life while the other one wants to end it. How tragic.”

Local media revealed that the incident took place in Al-Fakhriyah district, Dhahran city, in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia.

The target of the crime, Nada Al-Qahtani, was coming home from university in a private family vehicle with her colleagues.

But her brother was not willing to let her complete her education, and that is why he waited for her to return from university, where he shot and killed her and her colleagues.

Translation: “Now you can finally see the truth behind the Saudi society, which is filled with mentally sick people who should be imprisoned and punished for their crimes.”

The hashtag #ندى_القحطاني (Nada Al-Qahtani) went viral in Saudi Arabia, where activists demanded justice and for prosecution of the murderer, who often gets away with his crime in the name of “honor killing”.

Thousands of Saudi users mourned Al-Qahtani's death on social media, and prayed for the recovery of her colleagues. 

Translation: “Men like this should be executed because it is unfair for another victim to be living among them, without knowing that this person is her brother or father or husband who thinks about killing her because she is independent.”

On the other hand, the incident attracted people who took the opportunity to express their anger towards recent pro-women reforms and feminists in Saudi Arabia, blaming women’s rights movements for having to “resort to honor killing”.

Translation: “Mohammed bin Salman enacted laws that protect women when they sin, which disgraced our society. They promote women to misbehave, and when we honorably kill them, you yell at us men.”

Translation: “You feminists are making it sound as though all women in Saudi are abused and that we're living in a jungle.”