Hina Saleem

Hina Saleem (19 December 1985 – 11 August 2006 ) was a Pakistani woman resident in Italy who was the victim of an honour killing, in Zanano di Sarezzo, province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy.

Background Saleem was born in Gujrat, Pakistan. Her father Mohammad Saleem began living in Italy circa 1996 and worked in a saucepan factory there. Hina worked as a server at a pizza parlour and had an Italian boyfriend, a carpenter, who she cohabitated with. Until 1981, Italian law was permissive of honour killings under certain circumstances, with the Criminal Code providing mitigating circumstances for such killings; until 1981 the law read: "Art. 587: He who causes the death of a spouse, daughter, or sister upon discovering her in illegitimate carnal relations and in the heat of passion caused by the offense to his honour or that of his family will be sentenced from three to seven years. The same sentence shall apply to whom, in the above circumstances, causes the death of the person involved in illegitimate carnal relations with his spouse, daughter, or sister." The murder of Saleem brought Italy’s own history of honour killing into discussion.

Aftermath Saleem was buried in the Muslim section of Monumental Cemetery of Brescia (a.k.a. Cimitero Vantiniano) in Brescia. Mohammad received a prison sentence of 30 years.

Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato stated that the event made him reconsider a plan to reduce the waiting period for Italian citizenship; he previously proposed reducing it from ten to five. Popham wrote the event "has sparked a fierce debate in Italy about how to deal with the "clash of civilisations". L'Osservatore Romano criticised the event.

Marco Ventura and Giommaria Monti co-wrote a book called Hina: questa è la mia vita ("Hina: This is my life").