November 14, 2000

By Jamal J. Halaby, Women's Enews

ZARQA, Jordan--It took Ahmad Ismail two months to track down his teen-age sister Haneen who had fled home with a boyfriend two years ago.

When Ahmad pulled the trigger, 19-year-old Haneen was two months pregnant. Ahmad, now 17, spent one year in jail and then was released to a hero's welcome from his family and neighbors.

"I cleansed our family honor," he said at his family home in the dirt alleyways of this town, 17 miles northeast of the Jordanian capital, Amman.

"She disgraced us," he said. "We are a tribe of thousands of men. It was better that one person die, but not the thousands, of shame."

Ahmad's thankful father, Mahmoud, concurred: "Our neighbors and even relatives had stopped talking to us until Ahmad carried out his heroic act."

"Now, we can walk with our heads held high," he added.

In Jordan, One-Quarter of All Murders Are 'For Honor'

Haneen was one of scores of Jordanian women who face, or faced, family retribution in this conservative, tribal-oriented society where men rule on family matters and women, who constitute 49 percent of the 4.6 million population, have little say.

Official statistics show that 25 women--the majority of them teen-agers--are killed each year in so-called "honor crimes," which constitute 25 percent of the annual homicides in Jordan. Most are buried in unmarked graves, disgraced even in death.

Experts say the phenomenon is widespread among poorer, less educated, tribal societies with a tradition of self-administered justice, like Jordan's, and in underdeveloped countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and South America.

Chief Justice Sheikh Izzeddine al-Tamimi, the highest Muslim authority in the country, said Islam prohibits violence against women and "bars individuals from taking the law into their hands, even if a case of adultery was proven."

Nevertheless, women become victims of family revenge for as little as speaking to an unrelated man or dating. Even being raped is seen as having disgraced the family. Premarital sex is prohibited and, when an unmarried woman becomes pregnant, it is not only considered a crime, but also by law her child is taken away at birth to be raised at an orphanage.

Potential Victims Seek Safety In a Jail

In view of the limited legal and other protections for women, the government has set up a shelter inside a jail on the outskirts of Amman. Scores of threatened women have found refuge there in the past three years. Many women who have given birth out of wedlock remain there, fearing for their lives if they leave. Others have taken part in state-sponsored "rehabilitation" programs and are said to be living productive lives.

Public debate about "honor killings" only began two years ago as a result of the publicity and lobbying by the National Jordanian Campaign Committee to Eliminate Crimes of Honor. The 11-member group has organized seminars, television and radio programs and talk shows and generated international pressure from women's organizations, human rights groups and governments, including the United States and the European Union.

But punishment of women is widely accepted as an honorable tradition not only by most Jordanians but also by the state. Seldom is anyone arrested, but if the killer is apprehended, under an archaic law, dating back to Napoleonic times, men who can prove in court that they killed female relatives in order to restore their family's honor receive, if they are punished at all, a short jail sentence, usually between three months and two years.

"It is imperative to cancel this law," said Asma Khader, a criminal lawyer affiliated with the National Committee. Its members have garnered the signatures of more than 30,000 people in their bid to have Parliament amend the version of the law written in the 1960s and impose harsher punishment on "honor" killers.

Bedouin Lawmakers Demand Tough Laws Against Lewd Women

Jordan's new, pro-western monarch, King Abdullah II, supports the reform, and his younger brother, Prince Ali, and cousin, Prince Ghazi, have taken part in demonstrations calling for harsher punishment for "honor" killers. The government will put forward its own amendment to the Penal Code when Parliament reconvenes on Nov. 25 for its regular, four-month session.

But a similar amendment was rejected twice by the conservative 80-member Chamber of Deputies where influential Bedouin tribesmen insisted that the current law is necessary to prevent decadence and fornication. Jordan also has a 40-member, royally appointed Senate.

"Women adulterers cause a great threat to our society because they are the main reason that such acts take place," said Deputy Mohammad Kharabsheh, a strong opponent of the amendment last year when he chaired Parliament's legal committee.

"If men do not find women with whom to commit adultery, then they will become good on their own," he added.

Khader, the woman lawyer with the National Campaign, acknowledged a harsher law won't put an end to the practice but added, "It is a good step. At least we are able to talk about it now. It was a big taboo."

Woman Journalist Threatened for Reporting on 'Honor' Killings

Although honor killings are now discussed among some urban residents, the issue still stirs powerful emotions. Journalist Rana Husseini, with the English-language daily, Jordan Times, said in a recent interview that she frequently receives death threats. A member of the National Campaign, her reporting since 1994 helped lift the shroud of secrecy from honor killings. "They accuse me of tarnishing the image of Arabs and Islam," she said, "and say the issue is none of my business." Husseini will represent the National Committee and accept an award in New York Tuesday night from the Human Rights Watch.

Adding fuel to the National Committee's outrage, local police officials now say that honor killings are often used to cover up for more serious offenses. An example cited is the case of Ibrahim Massoud. He beat his 16-year-old daughter, Inam, to death last year, claiming she was pregnant. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison after it became known that he had molested the girl.

Medics say honor killings are usually based on rumors and that postmortems often reveal that the victims' hymens were intact. In addition, others who undergo virginity tests and are found to be virgins may still be killed.

"On many occasions, simply examining women to check their virginity is considered a license to kill," said Hani Jahshan of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Virgins Murdered by Father, Brothers Who Say They Had Sex

For example, Jahshan said, a man took his two teen-age daughters, 16 and 17, for exams when he heard from neighbors that both were dating. Though the two were found to be virgins, two weeks later both were killed by their father and two brothers--they refused to believe the girls hadn't had sex.

Back in Zarqa after serving one year for murder, Ahmad recalled the childhood good times with his sister Haneen. "We used to have fun when we played football together, but I always won because I am a man," he said.

Any regrets? "I am not sorry. She was wrong."

"Had she been alive and committed the same mistake, I would have killed her again."

Jamal J. Halaby is a journalist in Amman, Jordan, with a special interest in human rights abuses in the Middle East. Women's Enews is a news service based in New York City.