Honor Killings: Excerpts And Links

[MMMMMM]

Jordanian Parliament Supports Impunity For Honor Killings

(01/27/00) -- Human Rights Watch today condemned the failure of the Jordanian Lower House to end impunity for men who murder female family members in the name of preserving the "honor" of the family. "For too long, men in Jordan have been getting away with murder," said Regan Ralph, executive director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. "This vote is a slap in the face of Jordanian women who have been organizing to stop the killings."

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2000/01/27/jordan364.htm


Current Status of Honor Killings:

Many people find the practice of honor killings to be unacceptable, but the practice still continues. In some countries such as Jordan, Morocco and Syria, “honor crimes” are legally sanctioned and defense of the family honor is considered a mitigating factor.

Article 340 of the Penal Code of Jordan used to contain an exemption from penalty if a man killed his wife or female relative after finding her “committing adultery with another.” This Article has since been repealed, but there are other Articles that allow for a reduced sentence if the men were "provoked" into performing the murder. Article 548 of the Penal Code of Syria also provides an exemption from penalty if a man kills or injures his wife or female after finding her committing adultery or other “illegitimate sexual acts with another.”

Honor Killings in the News:

Sixteen-year-old Hsehu Yones was stabbed to death by her father, Abdullah Jones, on October 12, 2002, for having a Christian boyfriend and becoming "Westernized". According to Scotland yard, the stabbing is believed to be among 12 honor killings in the UK last year. On September 29th, 2003 Abdullah Jones was given a life sentence for his crime, showing the intolerance of honor killings in the UK.

http://womensissues.about.com/cs/hon...orkillings.htm


Honor Killing
As defined by UNICEF
'Honor killing' is an ancient practice in which men kill female relatives in the name of family 'honor' for forced or suspected sexual activity outside marriage, even when they have been victims of rape. Reports indicate that offenders are often under 18 and that in their communities they are sometimes treated as heroes. These killings have been reported in Pakistan, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, the Gaza strip and West Bank.

http://www.vday.org/contents/violenc...y/honorkilling


A human-rights report published in March 1999 stated that "honour" killings took the lives of 888 women in the single province of Punjab in 1998 (Hassan, "The Fate of Pakistani Women"). Similar figures were recorded for 1999. In Sindh province, some 300 women died in 1997, according to Pakistan's independent Human Rights Commission. (Goldenberg, "A Question of Honour.") It is unknown how many women are maimed or disfigured for life in attacks that fall short of murder. Pamela Constable describes one such case:

Zahida Perveen's head is shrouded in a white cotton veil, which she self-consciously tightens every few moments. But when she reaches down to her baby daughter, the veil falls away to reveal the face of one of Pakistan's most horrific social ills, broadly known as "honour" crimes. Perveen's eyes are empty sockets of unseeing flesh, her earlobes have been sliced off, and her nose is a gaping, reddened stump of bone. Sixteen months ago, her husband, in a fit of rage over her alleged affair with a brother-in-law, bound her hands and feet and slashed her with a razor and knife. She was three months pregnant at the time. "He came home from the mosque and accused me of having a bad character," the tiny, 32-year-old woman murmured as she awaited a court hearing ... "I told him it was not true, but he didn't believe me. He caught me and tied me up, and then he started cutting my face. He never said a word except, "This is your last night." (Constable, "The Price of 'Honour'," The Gazette (Montreal), May 22, 2000.)

http://www.gendercide.org/case_honour.html


Several thousand women a year are victims of honor killings. Numerous murders are ruled an accident, suicide, or family dispute, if they're reported at all. Police and government officials are often bribed to ignore crimes and hinder investigations. A woman beaten, burned, strangled, shot, or stabbed to death is often ruled a suicide, even when there are multiple wounds.
Many women are killed and buried in unmarked graves; their very existence is removed from community and clan records. The fact that so many murders go unreported is indicative of the status of women and the role of culture in fundamentalist Islamic countries. "It shows that women are still sometimes seen as commodities that are owned by men," says Carolyn Hannan, director of the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women.
A Palestinian family at a refugee camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

In the Palestinian communities of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan, women are executed in their homes, in open fields, and occasionally in public, sometimes before crowds of cheering onlookers. Honor killings account for virtually all of the murders of Palestinian women in these areas.
Honor killings occur for a variety of offenses, including allegations of premarital or extramarital sex, refusing an arranged marriage, attempting to obtain a divorce, or simply talking with a man. If a woman brings shame to the family, her male relatives are bound by duty and culture to kill her. "A woman shamed is like rotting flesh," a Palestinian merchant tells me. "If it is not cut away, it will consume the body. What I mean is the whole family will be tainted if she is not killed."
Among Arabs, marriage is traditionally a family affair, not a personal choice. Girls are often pressured into arranged marriages, while boys are not. "I was forced to marry my cousin," laments a young Palestinian woman. "I hated him. He beat me and humiliated me in front of his family and friends. But what could I do? If I had fled, I would have been killed."

http://www.worldandi.com/newhome/pub.../may/clpub.asp


Though it may be too late for Mustafa's wife, and more than 1,200 other women in Pakistan killed last year in the name of "family honor," President Pervez Musharraf signed a bill last week making honor killing an explicit criminal act punishable by death. Rights activists say it is a small step forward and that more must be done to change tribal and feudal attitudes that treat women like property.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in668007.shtml


While the Turkish penal code does not appear to condone honor killings, traditional society has found a way out - usually honor killings are committed by under age male family members who, by virtue of their age, escape the maximum punishment.

The Iranian penal code, according to the 1993 book Women of Iran by Iranian feminists 'recognizes the right' of a father or brother to murder a girl found guilty of pre-marital sex' by imposing a maximum sentence of only six months in jail or a fine,' adding that 'In the case of a husband murdering an adulterous wife, there is of course no sentence' [ldots].

Honor killings are not, however, the unique preserve of Muslim societies. They were until very recently a recognized feature of the Balkan regions. In parts of the former Yugoslavia, tribal codes withstood the socialist regime's attempts to implement legislation which would have introduced and preserved the legal equality of women.

http://www.wwhr.org/?id=777


According to Amnesty International (AI), every year, at least 1,000 women and girls die in 'honor killings' in Pakistan. Besides the fact that women are being murdered for 'honor' in India and other South Asian countries, British-Asian women are also being killed in the United Kingdom... However, honor killings in the UK have alarmed the Met Police sufficiently. Its officers have set up a nationwide murder prevention scheme into the killing or disappearance of more than 100 British women over the last decade, to see whether they were the victims of honor killings and to examine how best to prevent such murders...

...UK women's rights campaigners who work with British-Asian communities believe that forced marriages - in which women are threatened with death if they refuse to marry the man of their family's choice - can be a precursor to honor killings.

"In almost all forced marriage cases we deal with, 95 per cent of our clients have had the threat of death," says Kulbir Randhawa, coordinator and counselor at the national charity, the London-based Asian Family Counseling Service. AFCS advises Asian women referred to the service by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). So far, AFCS has not had any clients murdered in honor killings.

However, honor killings in the UK have alarmed the Met Police sufficiently. Its officers have set up a nationwide murder prevention scheme into the killing or disappearance of more than 100 British women over the last decade, to see whether they were the victims of honor killings and to examine how best to prevent such murders.

UK women's rights campaigners who work with British-Asian communities believe that forced marriages - in which women are threatened with death if they refuse to marry the man of their family's choice - can be a precursor to honor killings.

"In almost all forced marriage cases we deal with, 95 per cent of our clients have had the threat of death," says Kulbir Randhawa, coordinator and counselor at the national charity, the London-based Asian Family Counseling Service. AFCS advises Asian women referred to the service by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). So far, AFCS has not had any clients murdered in honor killings.

http://www.boloji.com/wfs3/wfs312.htm


In Jordan, one woman was knifed to death because she wanted to continue her education and refused to marry the man chosen for her by her family. Another woman was shot five times because she ran away from her husband who continually beat and raped her. Another had her throat slit because her husband suspected her of adultery - he saw her speaking with a man from their village. In Pakistan, a young mother of two sons was shot dead by a family acquaintance because she had sought divorce from an abusive husband. Another woman was shot dead in front of a tribal gathering after she had been repeatedly raped by a local government official.

These murders are based on the belief that a woman is the property of her family. Should the woman’s virtue come into question, for whatever reason, or if she refuses to obey her father, husband or brother, her family’s “honor” is thought to be disgraced and the woman must be killed by a male relative to restore the family’s good name in the community. Often, women are killed because of mere suspicion that they have engaged in illicit sexual activity.

It is estimated by the United Nations Population Fund that as many as 5000 women and girls are murdered by family members each year in so-called “honor killings” around the world. In Pakistan alone, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, more than 1000 women were victims of these crimes in 1999. According to the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, “honor killings” have been reported in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda and the United Kingdom.

These crimes are socially sanctioned in many countries and the killers are treated with lenience. Although it may be noted that so-called “honor killings” tend to be prevalent in countries with a majority Muslim population, many Islamic leaders and scholars have condemned the practice and denied claims that it is based on religious doctrine.

In some countries such as Jordan, Morocco and Syria, “honor crimes” are also legally sanctioned and defense of the family honor is considered a mitigating factor. Article 340 of the Penal Code of Jordan, for example, provides for an exemption from penalty if a man kills his wife or female relative after finding her “committing adultery with another.” It provides for a reduction in penalty if a man kills his wife or female relative after finding her “with another in an unlawful bed.” Similarly, Article 548 of the Penal Code of Syria also provides an exemption from penalty if a man kills or injures his wife or female after finding her committing adultery or other “illegitimate sexual acts with another.” The law also provides for a reduction in penalty for a man who kills or injures his female relative after catching her in a “suspicious state with another.” Also of concern is the way in which legislation in various countries awards lesser punishment in cases where the victim is considered to have “provoked” the crime by violating cultural norms.

http://www.feminist.com/violence/spot/honor.html

[Wake up CALL]

Very good post MMMMMM, although I'm sure some here will still find a way to call the obvious evidence anecdotal rather than factual.

[Zygote]

what? humans rights groups aren't defending the people that are so awefully being oppressed by the U.S. and Israel?

The activists say, "but they deserve human rights." This is obviously only true until some country tries to give it (human rights) to them, then, the argument changes to, "Bush is Hitler."

[chabibi]

come on, dont you know these honor killings are just isolated incidents

[Felix_Nietsche]

"Jordanian Parliament Supports Impunity For Honor Killings

(01/27/00) -- Human Rights Watch today condemned the failure of the Jordanian Lower House to end impunity for men who murder female family members in the name of preserving the "honor" of the family. "For too long, men in Jordan have been getting away with murder," said Regan Ralph, executive director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. "This vote is a slap in the face of Jordanian women who have been organizing to stop the killings."
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2000/01/27/jordan364.htm

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This can not be TRUE!!! After all, Chris Alger, who is famous throughout the political forum for his WELL RESEARCHED posts which are ALWAYS supported by LINKS and SUPPORTING EVIDENCE said the following about honor killings:

"Is this some kind of sick joke? Are you seriously unware of the efforts of women's and other groups and individuals -- the King of Jordan, for example --"
-Chris Alger, Spokesman for Muslims uber Alles, Inc-


"that are going about 100 times out of their way to condemn, prosecute and do away with honor killings"
-Chris Alger, Muslim Apologist-
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Jordanian women are LUCKY that they weren't born in a muslim country where they ONLY went 50 times "out of their way" to stop honor killings. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


This is just TOO easy.
All you got to do is shoot them with their own ammo. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[MMMMMM]

Well according to one of the linked excerpts, the Jordanian penal code (340?) was amended so that Jordanian males no longer enjoy complete impunity in honor killings. Guess that's some progress, eh;-)? And Perez Musharraf deserves all manner of credit for in January of this year 2005, making honor killings in Pakistan fully punishable under the law as any other murder (which sounds like more real progress than the 'alteration' in Jordan's penal code, which provides very reduced sentences for Jordanian males convicted of honor killings).

Anyway, honor killings are a significant, horrific and pervasive problem, especially (but not exclusively) in many Muslim and Arabic regions, and I think the subject should be in the news more than it is.

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, honor killings are a significant, horrific and pervasive problem....

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is overstating things somewhat. Saying the honor killings are ‘significant’ and 'pervasive', at least in terms of numbers, is reaching a bit. One web site listed 5,000 a year perhaps. Let's triple that to 15,000. If an estimate of 1 billion Muslims on the planet is reasonable, then the percentage killed is rather small. This statement is not meant to dismiss the terrible brutally of these crimes. Nor does it take into account the probable physiological damage done to families living in this climate, even if no 'honor killing' is done.

I think a better approach to illustrate some of your hypotheses on this forum is to point out the perponderance of a number of attitudes and ideas that allow the killings to continue in addition to the general overall treatment by some men in ‘Muslim Culture’, however you wish to define that, of women and young girls. Selecting only ‘one item’ of evidence makes your argument appear weak.

Personally, and as an overall theme, I would say that most religions, in general and as practiced, are the outgrowth of minds polluted with vast amounts of hooey mingled with some ‘good’, always a volatile and dangerous mix. The products of religious belief and the historical results of the same give all the evidence needed for this hypothesis. But that is another issue, sort of.

-Zeno

[MMMMMM]

Points taken.

One reason for my post was that some, in another thread, seemed unaware of the extent of the problem, or even thought such killings were fairly rare or 'isolated incidents'.

I suppose that anything so shocking and horrific, even at 'only' 5000 per year worldwide, seems more significant than it may really be in terms of raw numbers or percentages. Part of the reason for that is the psychological impact and the nature of the crime.

Consider Jack the Ripper's murders long ago in England. If there had been several Jack the Ripper's terrorizing the countryside as well as London(?), simultaneously, it would have seemed both significant and pervasive, although in terms of raw numbers and percentages it would probably have been much less so. Even with just the one historical Jack, his murders probably amounted to far fewer persons than died of disease during the same time span in that city.

But there is something depraved or inhuman about such killings. And even if there are strong cultural customs or pressures to do something like "honor" killing, I think it takes a certain deep callousness or a sort of inhumanity for someone to really complete such an act.

There is something more repulsive about mortal crimes committed by a human than a natural evil such as dying of disease.

So yes, the problem is deeper than the act itself and goes deep in certain cultural attitudes and ideas.

I loathe the ideas that influence humans to do such things, and feel a great repugnance (and some pity) for the humans who do such terrible things (and of course even the more pity and pathos for their victims). I have difficulty seeing how any human can be so heartless, especially towards those who are their closest family and loves.

And since you are mentioning religion now too, Zeno, I will add that if there is a God, I have after long consideration decided to fault Him for creating humans in such a flawed manner. Maybe next time He'll get it right, or better. In the meantime, I look at the world, and at all of Creation, with increasingly dark mood at times, because I have always been one by nature to believe in the hope of wonderful things and infinite possibilities, and very few seem to share that view with me, and there are countless people roaming the Earth whom I can hardly consider human except in form and habit. They have no compassion for others, no real powers of analysis, no creative spark--what is their purpose? To keep the world going somehow, it would seem, perhaps.

So I post things like this because there are many unaware of of some of the evils on this Earth, and in the human mind; and as the world becomes smaller through our increasing interconnectedness, such things become increasingly important to know.

Perhaps it is the world becoming smaller that will eventually save the human race--or destroy it. One cigar in the right hand and one cigar in the left--which will you be lighting in 30 years, Zeno? Well, I'll be watching from the hilltops by that time, in the evenings, over campfire. Will I see a great flash, or just the pine trees swaying gently in the breezes off the lake, as usual?