Honour killing
"Honour killing" is an ironic name for what is a deeply dishonourable practice. If a Jordanian man feels that his wife, sister, daughter or other female relative has dishonoured him, he has the right, enshrined in law, to kill her. The murder of females is not unknown in other Muslim countries either, but it appears to be particularly common in Jordan, where between 15 and 20 women are murdered each year in "honour killings" - and is the more distressing because in so many other respects the Jordanians are cultured and civilised people.
A few examples of the sort of thing classed as "honour killing" will help you understand the concept.
A young Jordanian woman from Amman fell in love with an American and was seen by her brother to hold the American's hand. There was no question of any improper behaviour on the part of either of them, but the following day her father stabbed her repeatedly, waited until she had stopped wriggling before summoning the police and ambulance, and was given - if memory serves me correctly - two weeks in prison for the delay in calling the ambulance. The young woman's best friend, appalled by what had happened and fearful lest she might be thought to have had a part in the liaison, fled to the West and wrote a book about the murder, which I read.
A young woman from Kerak, studying at Amman university, shared a taxi with six fellow students, all male, in order to get home as cheaply as possible for the half-term holiday. It might be thought that the presence of six others plus the taxi driver would have been a guarantee that nothing untoward was done, but her father thought differently. The following morning he marched her round to the home of one of the six and cut her throat on the doorstep. His crime went unpunished, but was reported in a Jordanian newspaper which I read.
A young woman was raped by her brother - incest and familial abuse is not solely a Western phenomenon - and when the matter was revealed, another brother decided that the girl had brought dishonour on the family. He tied her to a chair, gave her time to pray and then cut her throat. At the time when I heard about the crime, both he and the rapist were still unpunished.
In 2008 a young woman from Mowaqqar, south-east of Amman, was raped. The police immediately arrested her and took her into "protective custody" where she was kept for six months before being handed over to her family. As soon as she got home her 29-year old brother shot her twelve times in different parts of her body in a sadistic torture killing.
The police arrested him and he openly confessed to the killing, saying that he had murdered his sister "in the name of honour". He was tried and given a sentence of fifteen years hard labour. However the court immediately halved the sentence to seven and a half years and granted him the right to appeal against even this derisory sentence within thirty days. Meanwhile the rapist is still at large and the police appear to be taking no steps to find him.
It is to the credit of the government that at least twice bills have been introduced to outlaw the practice, but both have been rejected by the parliament, led by outspoken Muslim clerics, who claim that it would lead to a tidal wave of immorality. All I can say is that if the males have to resort to murder to keep their women in line, perhaps they are not the men they think they are.
I should also mention Jordan's queen, Queen Rania, who is not only setting a good example of a woman who does all the traditional things but also takes a full part in the modern world and is working inside Jordan against family abuse and honour killings.
There are various campaigns in existence to stop the practice of female circumcision. I wish there was one to stop the practice of honour killing - and if anyone finds a site, please let me know as I will be delighted to put a link to it on this page.
I call upon the Jordanian government and people to put a stop to the barbaric killing of women without trial or appeal, merely upon the whim of a male relative.
Since the above was written things are looking up in Jordan. The Jordanian government has made changes in the legal system so that honour killings are now regarded as murder pure and simple and those who carry out such murders now receive tougher penalties. Recent cases have seen the offenders sentenced to between 7 and 15 years in prison.
Unfortunately, the changes are in the legal system, not in the laws themselves. A sympathetic judge could impose the previous nominal sentences if he so wished. Activists campaigning on the issue still demand that the law should be changed, but they note that the atmosphere in the country seems to be changing. Newspaper reports of honour killings used to be uniformly supportive of the murderer; now they tend to be sympathetic towards the victim. If this continues, there is hope that the die-hard Islamic fundamentalists who have blocked changes in the law will themselves die out and be replaced by more civilised and godly. legislators.
There is a Facebook campaign against honour killings. I don't know how Facebook works, but those more savvy than myself should go there to give what support they can to this most worthy campaign.
