Fear of Honor Killing or a novel method for Asylum?

Roohi Tabassum, 44, from Brampton in Canada claimes that she would be victim of honor killing if she is forced back to Canada.

Prosecutors believe that if she is allowed to stay on in Canada, it would open door for more such cases of asylum. Roohi had left her husband in Pakistan to work as hair stylist . As part of her job, she touches men’s hair which is not acceptable to her husband, a devout Muslim. She claims that her husband has also alleged that she has a boy friend in Canada, something that Roohi vehemently denies.

The case is being watched closely in immigration circles as any favorable decision is likely to open floodgates of applications on such ground. Canada immigration board is considering many cases of domestic abuse.

Her advocate agrees that there are many such cases and has sought a judicial review to annul the deportation order issued against Tabassum. The judge will issue a written decision in weeks.

“Honor killings are well known in Pakistan,” Berger said. Citing U.S. statistics, Berger told an immigration board that as many as 1,500 women were killed in 2007 in honor killings in Pakistan.

Tabassum had entered illegally into Canada from US in 2001 when she filed a refugee claim which was denied. While she has received good support from local public yet some hardliners have criticized her for going public against family matters which are considered personal in conservative Asian societies.

NDP MP Irene Mathyssen this month called on immigration minister Jason Kenney to keep Tabassum in Canada.

“I am saddened that this woman’s life remains in limbo and that the minister seems uninterested in protecting her,” she said on her website.

Tabassum’s cousin was the victim of an honour killing after she refused an arranged wedding to an older man.

Officials of the Canada Border Services Agency said Tabassum has had her hearings and must leave Canada.