Writing on the Women'sENews site, Iranian commentator Soheila Vahdati has this to say about the media treatment of a Buffalo businessman's beheading of his wife: "The killing of a woman by her husband is hardly news. Sadly it is the ugly and familiar face of domestic violence," she writes. "That is, unless the man is a proud prominent Muslim who made countering Muslim stereotypes his business.'"

Vahdati's talking about Muzzammil Hassan who founded Bridges TV with Bush administration support,  to improve the image of Muslim Americans after Sept. 11. Earlier this month, Hassan's beheading of his wife, Aasiya was breaking news. But instead of murder or domestic homicide,  in Hassan's case, the murder was discussed as an "honor killing."

The fact is, as we've found out since, Aasiya Hassan may have been a victim of domestic violence before -- she certainly lived in fear. She had recently obtained a restraining order against her husband. That put her in the company of thousands of women who are attacked by their partners each year.

In the United States, over 1,000 women and over 300 men are killed annually by such violence, points out Vahdati.

But in this case, the slaying is being discussed as a case of honor killing, rather than domestic violence or homicide..

"Does that help any of us to better understand what happened?" She asks. "Will it help us prevent similar crimes...? Or is the terminology a euphemism that lets most of us off the hook, allowing the majority to push it away....?"

Good question. Vahdati concludes that all this talk of Honor Killing "limits the discussion, as well as the blame. It protects our innocence and keeps our distance from the crime."

She's got a point.  You can read the whole commentary at womensenews.org. We'll post a link at our site -- feel free to comment in the comments section.