A Kurdish father living in Germany is distraught and grieving after his 21-year-old daughter was shot and killed at a wedding as a result of her refusal of an arranged marriage to her cousin.
Shilan was shot in the head at a wedding in full view of her family, and police have issued an arrest warrant for her cousin named Sefin.
Shilan’s father, Ghazi, 50, said that his brothers decided she would be in an arranged marriage with his brother’s son Numan while he was on an aid mission in Iraq.
The Bild reports she begged him to stop the wedding upon his return.
Ghazi said that he and dozens of guests recognised Sefin at the wedding where the horrific crime took place, with Ghazi claiming she was murdered in an act of vengeance for rejecting her cousin.
He wrote on Facebook: “With great sadness, pain and a bleeding heart, I announce the death of my beloved daughter Shilan.”
He said she was the victim of “an insidious betrayal, customs and traditions. It is a crime against an innocent person.”
Shilan was three when her family fled Iraq (where Kurds face persecution) to Germany, where she became a German citizen and studied property management.
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