Trans Muslim woman killed days after her wedding
A Muslim transgender woman was killed in Russia three days after marrying her husband this week.
Raina Aliev was left virtually unrecognisable as her body was hacked into pieces.
The incident allegedly took place after Aliev’s father, Alimshaikh Aliev, called for his daughter’s execution on a Russian TV station and misgendered Raina.
“Let him be killed, I don’t want to see him,” Alimshaikh said. “Bring him here and kill him in front of my eyes.”
A Dagestan mufti, a legal expert who interprets Muslim law, told Russian media that being transgender is banned in Islam: “Changing sex is totally forbidden, because it means that a man will be a woman,” they said.
The exact motivation and cause behind Aliev’s death is still under investigation.
Alien’s family reside in Russia and after finishing education, she moved to Moscow where she met her husband Viktor.
A neighbour of the deceased said that the father has issued a “purman” – an invite for people to kill his child -after finding out she would be marrying Viktor, who embraced her trans identity.
She worked in the nightlife industry and met her husband in Karachaevo-Cherkessiya, a primarily Muslim region in Russia.
Last year Laverne Cox announced a state of emergency over the number of transgender woman murdered in the US.
2016 has since become the deadliest year on record with approximately 23 recorded murders of transgender women.
A recent report by Witness found that video footage of violence against transgender people was being shared on social media platforms such as youtube as entertaining content.
