Tina Isa Recorded Honor Killing

In 1989 in St. Louis, 16-year-old Palestina “Tina” Isa defied her Palestinian immigrant parents by getting a part-time job and secretly dating an African American classmate. Suspecting her father, Zein Isa, of terrorist ties, the FBI had bugged the family’s apartment and accidentally recorded the night when Tina’s mother, Maria pinned her down while Zein stabbed her repeatedly with a 7-inch boning knife.

On the tape Tina can be heard screaming and begging for her life as her parents denounce her as too Westernized before she dies. The recording became the key evidence at trial, and both parents were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death (later reduced to life without parole for Maria).

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