
Rokstan was employed as an interpreter on a book project on Syrian refugees. She recounted before her death that “I was taken by three men. Ever since that time my family has regarded me as unclean. My mother and my brothers mistreat me. They say that I deserve to die.” She lived at Papatya, a crisis center for girls and young women and the director, Eva Kaiser, believes Rokstan was killed by her family “because she was no longer a virgin and was raped in Syria.”
Her body was found behind a living area for Syrian refugees in Berlin. The father appears to have fled to Turkey and likely back to Syria — leaving his wife who is under investigation in Germany. The mother denies involvement but friends of the Rokstan say that the mother threatened her and once allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill her.
There have been at least 129 documented honor killings in Germany in the last 20 years. Police documented an average 13 honor killings a year in the country and tie the large number to the 1.5 million refugees, mainly from Muslim-majority countries.
