In cold blood! Or is it hot blood due to the temper of the murderer who cannot control himself once he kills his wife, sister, or any relative of his once he is aware something not right is going on? Not an excuse …
A while ago, I was reading about the fourth victim to die from “Honor Killing” in Jordan since January, 2007, and it just simply upsets and disgusts me.
I was in class the other day, and the professor was talking about the differences in cultures; how something that is acceptable in one culture might be unacceptable in another, which makes perfect sense by the way. It is impossible for the entire world to go by one system.
Anyway, we were discussing the rights of children, women, the elderly, and the disabled. He started mentioning some examples to support what he said about women barely being recognized and having any rights at all in some places. He then started talking about Honor Killing; when men’s honor is decided by the behavior -or I should say misbehavior- 
of the women in the family.
- Human Rights Watch defines “Honor Killings” as follows:
Honour crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are perceived to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce — even from an abusive husband — or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a specific way to “dishonor” her family, is sufficient to trigger an attack.
The professor said that courts seem to agree with Honor Crimes, and I wanted to raise my hand and argue against it, but what he said is true. The murderer would get a reduced sentence most of the time because he acted in a fit of rage right at the spot. Is a reduced sentence enough? It will not bring the poor victim back! Let us not forget that in most cases, females with doubted virginity turn out to actually be virgins. Plus, the time the murderer spends in jail is barely enough to convince him to change his mentality and/or behavior. Same case applies to the rapist. I think this encourages them rather than prevent them from committing such awful crimes as it shows sympathy towards such criminals.
Note how Islam is not taken into consideration here. On the other hand, the above is based on our cultural beliefs and traditions. Maybe if Islamic laws were to be applied, honor crime cases would have occurred less.
The professor was saying that the West disapproves of it, and I was thinking that this is one thing I wish we could take from them instead of all the wrong actions we adopt. Not necessarily agreeing with their lifestyle, but killing someone based on an incorrect assumption? A no-no for me, and it is not a joke to be taken lightly!
Why is it not the other way around where if a male misbehaves, then he is punished? Men tend to do more wrong actions than women prior to marriage or even during it!
Qwaider قويدر said,
April 3, 2007 @ 11:54 am
Actually, allow me to correct you here. This is one thing that we actually DID take from the west. Yes, the french law has provisions for “Crimes of Passion” and we inherited our laws from the french system. Crimes of passion/Honor killing give the judge provisions to “lighten” the sentence.
In Islam, Who ever killed a person unjustly is sentenced to death. I think that’s enough deterrent, especially when we consider that premarital sex is not punishable by death anyway. But people just love to be more just than god.
Anyway, I think it’s about time we put this honor killing out of the society once and for all.
sam said,
April 3, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
why doesnt it touch a family’s honour if a husband, father, brother misbehaves?…will a woman get a light sentence as well if she caught her husband having sexual relations with another and killed him in rage??? will it be an honour crime? not that I think it is ok to kill anyone for any reason, if your husband cheats on u, there is divorce!
why the hell is a whole family’s honour riding on the woman’s behaviour?? in some cases i’ve read about the girl were still virgins. this is a very pathetic measure of honour and these killing should not even exist any more….governments really need to change the law and treat these case like they should be, just like any other murder case.
faten said,
April 5, 2007 @ 5:14 am
i’d like to quote something that Dr Nawal Saadawi once said…
“i wish the arab’s man honor is not only restricted to his wife’s social behavior and his daughter’s hymen status”
“اتمنى ان لا يقتصر شرف الرجل العربي على تصرفات زوجته و بكارة ابنته”
she might have some ideas that set division among the public, but what she said, is just…amazing.
….sadly the average arab man can nowadays be a thief, a drunkard, a wife beater, a pervert, a liar, etc…but if he keeps his wife and daughter on a tight leash then he’s an honorable man that must be respected.
if you read in the human rights watch website http://www.hrw.org/
you’ll see that the cases in jordan are estimated to be more that what “they” let us in on because most honor crimes go unreported.
Hala said,
April 7, 2007 @ 2:39 am
Qwaider: Well I do not think that a man who goes to kill his relative would be thinking of Western/French laws. This has more to do with OUR OWN beliefs and traditions, which are wrong by the way. And it really does not matter how and when and where we got. We tend to be more conservative as Arabs, and you know Isalm is strict on it, too. However, there is a strong idea in these men’s heads that has been planted there giving them the right to slaughter women OF THEIR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD like sheep just because of doubt.
As for the punishment of premarital sex, it is not death ONLY for unmarried people.
Sam: I agree with you. Honor killing should not exist, but unfortuantely, it still does. I was thinking men should be treated the same since they are even worse than women, but double standards apply I guess. And you are right, most of the time, the girls would still be virgins. You know the Jordanian government -other Arab governments as well I guess- have amended some of their law articles after taking into consideration the mental status the murderer would be placed in, and therefore, there is something as reduced punishment for both men and women. However, men are the ones actually benefiting from it.
Faten: That would probably be the one and only thing on which I agree when it comes to her. And I realy understand what you mean. This honor does not show up until his wife os sister or one of his relatives does something. Well, if he is a bad person in all aspects on a daily basis, then he should not care. Sadly, such men are hypocrits. I just do not get why they would cover up most of the crimes?!
Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Jordanian Blogosphere: An Iris Also Blooms said,
April 9, 2007 @ 9:39 am
[...] Arab Observer has a bone to pick with people who harass women on the street, while Hala looks at the double standards of so called ‘honor crimes’ in Jordan. Meanwhile, Tamara tuned into a local religious [...]