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An Introduction to Honor Killings
In primitive areas worldwide the belief persists the family members have the right to kill a member who has in some way strayed from normative behavior. My illustrations come from Jordan primarily because her authorities are doing the best job at combating this evil practice.
Honor killings are misnamed. Most of the victims are mothers, daughters and sisters. They can be executed for many minor infractions such as going to a girls' school, going shopping without a male family escort or forgetting to wear the veil in public. The violations include being a victim of incest or of rape. The male perpetrator receives a light punishment if any at all, while she has her throat cut.
The female accused of infidelity must endure a long travail to prove her innocence. The mother of two was executed by her brothers for singing professionally on television.
Capital punishments abound and instances of mercy are few.
The video below outlines some of the problems faced by reformers.
Honor Killing in Jordan
Dale Gavlak, HuffPo
AMMAN, Jordan — A Jordanian man confessed to stabbing to death his pregnant sister and mutilating her body to protect the family honor, said Jordanian authorities on Sunday.
Prosecutor Mohammed al-Tarawneh said the man turned himself into police and has been charged with murder.
The 28-year-old married woman was five months pregnant and stabbed repeatedly in the face, neck, abdomen and back as well as being hacked up with a meat cleaver, according to government pathologist Awad al-Tarawneh.
Police familiar with the case said the woman had moved back in with her family after an argument with her husband six months earlier. The brother believed that she had then started seeing other men.
The names of those involved have not been released.
The incident, the ninth such case this year and the second this month, took place in the village of Basira, in the conservative Bedouin heartland of southern Jordan.
Strict tribal and religious values are enforced in these villages, including the belief that women carry the family's honor.
Around two dozen women are killed each year in these conservative areas of Jordan by male relatives who typically accuse them of besmirching the family honor through adultery or having sex outside of marriage.
International human rights organizations have condemned honor killings in Jordan and appealed to King Abdullah II to put an end to the practice.
But attempts to introduce harsher sentences have been blocked in Jordan's parliament, where the predominantly conservative Bedouin lawmakers argue that tougher penalties would lead to adultery.
Some members of government have also urged judges to consider honor killings equal to other homicides and punishable by up to 15 years in prison. But many in the judiciary still hand down lenient punishments of half of that or less.
There is no honor in honor killings only ancient excuses for the subjugation of women. In future articles I will expand on this theme to include citizens who murder citizens and states that commit mass killings.
