The Sun has retracted a headline which associated honour killings with Islam after a complaint by the assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
An article on May 25 on the newspaper’s website said that the police were investigating whether Mrs Saima Khan may have been murdered in an “Islamic honour killing”.
The mother-of-four, 34, was found in a pool of blood in her hallway in Luton with unconfirmed reports her throat had been slit with a shard of glass.
Police said they remain open-minded about the motive and confirmed they were probing the possibility Ms Khan was targeted in honour-based violence.
But in a clarification today The Sun said: “We are happy to make clear that Islam as a religion does not support so-called ‘honour killings.'”
The MCB’s Miqdaad Versi said the retraction set an important precedent about use of terminology.
Honour killings are a cultural practice which are strictly against Islamic teachings. However, the media frequently fails to make this distinction.
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