An Italian woman, Nosheen Butt, and her mother were resisting the idea of an arranged marriage, which annoyed the men in the family. So they took action to put the women in their place.

The daughter, 20-year-old Nosheen Butt, was hospitalised with head injuries and a broken arm after her 19-year-old brother beat her with a stick in the courtyard of their building in Novi, near the northern city of Modena.

According to Modena prosecutors’ initial findings, the father Ahmad Khan Butt, a 53-year-old construction worker, threw his wife to the ground and beat her with a brick while the brother Umair attacked his sister. The father had been in Italy less that 10 years and was the owner of the local mosque.

The mother has died for defending her daughter’s autonomy.

What the hell is wrong with these benighted fanatics? Trying to murder your sister or your wife because they aren’t your obedient slaves is screwed up in more ways than one. Doesn’t this single incident alone shatter Peter Hitchens’ argument for the necessity of religion to foster morality?