I.
AMMAN – The Criminal Court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to seven-and-a-half-years in prison for murdering his married sister in Jerash in January.
…After the family went to sleep, the defendant interrogated his sister and asked her about her whereabouts during the time she was gone from her husband’s house, but she refused to answer, according to the court.
“The defendant then stuffed the victim’s scarf in her mouth to prevent her from screaming and strangled her with an electric wire. He then sat in front of his sister’s body and smoked a whole pack of cigarettes,†the 10-page court verdict said.
The victim’s brother then took the scarf and wire and roamed the streets for an hour before heading to a police station and turning himself in, claiming to have killed his sister in the name of family honour, the court added. [source]
II.
AMMAN – The Criminal Court on Sunday sentenced a 33-year-old Egyptian to death after convicting him of robbing and murdering a mobile phone shop employee in Sahab in June 2006.
Rabie A., who came to Jordan in 2000 and worked as a construction worker in Sahab, was declared guilty of slitting the throat of Faten M., 29, while she was working at a shop in Sahab before stealing seven mobile phones and dozens of SIM cards.
The defendant wanted to secure money to pay for medical treatment for a friend who was suffering from a chronic illness and decided to rob the victim’s shop, court papers said. [source]
Any idea about the last time since a death penalty was actually implemented? I think I heard or read somewhere that there is a hold on them.
Oh well, that’s better than a 3 month reduced sentence.
notice how both had a “cause” .. one was protecting the family honor and the other was trying to help a friend .. wtf o_0
p.s. one cigarette i can understand .. but a whole pack???
They both killed! Shouldnt they both sentence the same? or at least a closer sentence?
7 years is nothing for a murder! I don’t support death sentence either!
IS there something wrong with our justice system?
The first one should be sentenced to death as well, but 7 years is for sure better than the reduced sentence!
Not again…
“IS there something wrong with our justice system?” Iam not sure what to call you observer or promoter? ,Do you even remember what you commented on because if you don’t please allow me to quote you promoter, ops i meant to say observer.and here is your comment ,”There is a big room for improvement in Jordan, but I, as a Jordanian citizen, is very happy with the way King Abdulla is leading the country. You can go back and check every possible statistic and every single achievement this country did since he was appointed. We are definatly doing fairly good.”
أرسيلك على بر مشان النبي يا موروج عÙواناً أردت أن أقول الملاØØ·
You got to be smarter than rhat observer,,all these backward and medieval laws are kept by the king to keep his tribal support base ,haven’t you figure that out yet?
Is that a start to rejection of honour crimes?
“He then sat in front of his sister’s body and smoked a whole pack of cigarettes,â€
WTF!? How sick this bastard is?
I wonder what Faten’s husband thinks of this? Doesn’t a husband take up the honor guardian position after marriage?
It probably took him a whole pack of cigarettes to think up ‘honor’ as an excuse when he really killed her for not giving him 20JD cigarette money. Wish the judges could’ve seen through that one and applied the same sentence as the Egyptian received.
How sad the life of a woman is worth SO little in the eyes of some men. May God comfort these families.
Yes there is something wrong with our justice system.
Yes there is a conversation missing from society on crimes and criminal behavior.
Yes there are economic motives that are part of this criminal behavior which are not being addressed.
What’s really getting to me these days is the cold/blasé way which media is dealing with crimes, which does not help in mobilizing people to stand up and actively address this.
Where are the human stories behind the crimes?
Where are the names and ages and dreams of the dead?
Where are the images and sounds of the wrecked homes/families left behind?
Where is the shift in language?
Where are the follow up stories?
Where is the voice of reason?
Where are the voices of scholars?
Where are the voices of enlightened religious leaders?
What happened to compassion?
What happened to enforcing the law?
What happened to morality?
A crime is a crime. There’s no honor in that!
Can you smell the stench of moral decay?
Well put Nadine! Unfortunately, we all can.
I highly doubt that the brother will serve the full 7 year sentence.Also, the solution to end honor killings is bottom-up not top-down. Power, influence, and change do not only lie in the hands of the rich and the royal.
Christ… Well, 7.5 years is better than 6 months, or whatever.
I’m not a fan of capital punishment either.
But people like that DO need to go away for a long, long time.
I don’t see how this can pass as an honor crime. The story doesn’t even have sex outside marriage. The woman is not happy with her husband and stayed at a friends place or went back home! How can they pass that as an honor crime? Is the problem that she is not taking permission from a man to leave her home?! This is really pushing it, it’s coming to the point where whenever a woman is killed they just brush it off as honor crime.
In any case honor crimes should not be given a reduced sentence!
I say let us stop talking about the symptoms and lets talk about the cure, and you all know what the cure is for this crimes,it is called law amendment,it ist that only the king can change it with the strike of his pin, and with due respect to Queen Rania ,if she is reading this blog how come we didn’t see you talking and giving answer on You Tube or are you worrying too much about the image of the royal family in the west,why can’t you convince your husband to amend the law or even cancel it from “our” judicial system? I think that will be a start don’t you think your majesty????
just wondering, has any woman killed a man and claimed protection of honor as a motive? what would her punishment be?
Nas, I need your help!
http://moeys.net/2008/12/02/child-labour-in-jordan-mainstream-too/
u guys talk AS IF he is going to serve the full 7.5 years! lol wake up please….
no society can thrive as long as tribal law supercedes civil law, and no country IN THE WORLD has a more severe case of that than Jordan (dont say afghanistan they dont have a civil law, period)…
hmm probably he got a reduced sentence(7.5) because he turned him self in, still as if he had any other choice… anyway he’ll probably end up killing himself in prison or something, it wont be fun facing his family once he’s out..
also the motive to kill for the Brother is more than that of the egyption guy, the latter could of just robbed somthing else and needn’t to kill anyone. i mean there are many ways to steal, without being an artist.
still the Bro guy deserved a much harsher sentence. Murder is Murder.
i’m a foreigner living in Amman for six months to learn arabic, do some research for my masterpaper and to do some volunteeringwork.
Just a question: do you think that nationality has got something to do with the difference in sentence as well? I mean if the Egyptian did kill his sister and the Jordanian robbed and killed the phone shop employee, would the sentences got reversed?
Ali maybe i am prejudiced, but I find it hard to believe that the brother developed this mentality in isolation of his family, and i feel that they may condone if not at least forgive him for what he did. I am also concerened that you find his actions had some legitamate motivation… all she did was leave her husbands house!
loolt, yea thats some “maybe” i got to agree :P…
i was only “comparing” the two cases, we do live in a crazy world, but still i find it hard to believe that he murdered her without being that sure, or maybe there is another reason under the table.
still if the jury was convinced that “she” did do something wrong, he will have a “higher”(not high) motive to commit murder “compared” to the other guy.
i believe both deserved death sentences, i was just trying to view it from the lawyers point of view.
Ronny, i think if a Jordanian man robbed and killed the phone shop employee, most probably he will get the same sentence and there are similar sentences passed in the past.
Perhaps the same penal code would be used if an Egyptian man kills his sister while both are residing in Jordan. However, i don’t think there is a precedent, but would be interesting to see if the license to “honour”-kill is a privilege our justice system also bestows on those men who are believed to share our much protected traditional values.
I don’t think it is good that at least the guy got 7 years sentence (instead of the usual 6 months). I don’t think there is anything good about the entire sentence. There is nothing good about the entire ritual of “honour” cleansing. Some examples must be set and it’s all in the hands of those who interpret the law and its penal codes. Certainly in a language i don’t understand.
Here is different prespective on the issue of honor crime “Around 15 to 20 women are murdered each year in Jordan, often by male relatives in the name of family “honour”.” Without minimizing this problem anywhere in the world, but why don’t US media show the same outrage to the hundreds of women who are murdered everywhere year here in the US? I mean, there are more women who are murdered annually in Oakland, California than in Jordan. But this is the problem: when the White Man feigns sympathy toward the natives, it is never good. So spare us sympathy (and White Man’s sympathy is often translated into bombs). “
no comment……..
وقال مصدر مقرب من التØقيق “قبل أشهر من الØادثة، كان لدى عائلة الÙتاة شكوك Øول علاقة تربطها بشخص من قريتهم، ما دÙعهم إلى زيارة أهل ذلك الشاب طالبين أن يتم تزويجهما لإنهاء تلك الشكوك”. وأضا٠“رغم أن الزواج، تم الا ان العائلة لم تشعر بالرضى وهددت بقتل الÙتاة، ما دÙعها لتقديم شكوى ضد أعمامها والعائلة لدى المØاÙظ”.
وتابع المصدر أن والد الÙتاة زارها Ùيما بعد واقنعها باسقاط تلك الشكوى لاØتواء المشكلة وتÙادي أي تصعيد ÙواÙقت على طلبه. ÙÙŠ اليوم التالي توجهت الضØية إلى مكتب المØاÙظ مع والدها وزوجها لاسقاط الشكوى وقبل دخولها الى المكتب آخذها والدها الى طريق جانبي Øيث كان أعمامها بانتظارها”.
ÙÙŠ تلك الاثناء سØب اØد اعمامها مسدسه واطلق النار عليها عدة مرات Øتى تأكد من انها Ùارقت الØياة, ما دÙع رجال الشرطة الذين ÙŠØرسون مكتب المØاÙظ الى اعتقالهم جميعا”.
واعتر٠عم الضØية، امام المدعي العام، بانه قتل ابنة اخيه “لتطهير شر٠العائلة” مدعيا انه “علم قبل يوم واØد من الØادث بان اهلها زوجوها لاخÙاء علاقة غير شرعية كانت تربطها بزوجها قبل الزواج”.
وقال إنه كان سأل الضØية عن هذه العلاقة Ùأجابته “انها Øرة وتÙعل ما ÙŠØلو لها وأن ذلك ليس من شأنه لذلك اشتاط غضبا ما دÙعه لقتلها”.
وخلصت نتائج معاينة الجثة إلى أن “الضØية تلقت ست رصاصات ÙÙŠ رأسها
Hmmmm, i like the logic of this and where it seems to be heading. If more women are killed in the US for whatever reasons including violence against them (someone else’s backyard) then maybe we Jordanians should not be disconcerted by what happens in our own backyard to our own women. And this is because???? Numbers of those killed? US is a model country that dictates how we kill or not kill our women, sentence or not sentence our honour-killing men???
I vote for keeping the discussion local, because it is a local issue.
Rima ,,,i urge to read his post carefully before pontificating….
Unless the complete piece says more than you posted, i still don’t see why you are turning this into the “native” and the white man discourse discussion. The HK ritual is Jordanian, and so am i.
Maybe the Egyptian killed and stole the phones in order to protect someone’s honor. Poor guy just didn’t use the right excuse.
So let me get this straight. “Family honor” is ruined by a family member cheating, but “restored” somehow by a second family member committing murder?
Almashkalgy, this is an Arab Jordanian blog addressing a Jordanian issue. why bring the White Man into everything? I understand your frustration when it comes to western media’s double standards and making a huge deal of honor killings while not addressing their own crimes, but by turning your attention continuously to the white man, our society will always blame them for everything and we will remain in the same rut that we are in. Turn your attention to the matter at hand and address the problem. The tribal mentality justifies honor killings. If you are a muslim you should know that this is 100% haram, this is the killing of an innocent soul. under islamic law if you’re accusing a woman/man of fornication or adultery you must have FOUR witnesses who ALL witnessed the SAME ACT OF SEX and ALL TESTIFY. If you do not meet those conditions, then the ACCUSER IS PUNISHED for causing fitna and not keeping their darn mouth shut. Fa ma balak if the accuser takes matters into his own hands and murders? This is absolutely detestable and should not be justified in any way nor under any circumstances. And whatever religion/philosophy you follow, murder is unacceptable. Murder is murder and the mentality and the law need to be changed, and its starts from the bottom up, because as Ive heard some women take part in honor killings or forgive such heinous crimes! This indicates that its so rooted in some people.Change starts by educating ourselves and our children.
Listen Mariam ,I am with you all the way and I couldn’t say better,if it’s up to me ,I change the law now,and not tomorrow and give all women their rights .Having said that, we must ask ourselves this question ,who can change these backward primitive laws right at this moment, and the answer to my question as you know is the king and the king doesn’t want to change these laws because he is afraid that he will be losing the so called tribal support and ,in my opinion, this is out right cynical on king’s behalf.
I hope I clarified my position on that
on the naive Visa vie the Whitman,yes the white man does not give dame to the rights of women in the Arab world and that’s a fact,example ,the right of Iraqi women,Saudi, afghanistani..
Mashkalgy, i don’t want to the white man to think about the rights of women in the Arab and Muslim regions; Iraq, Saudi, Afghanistan, you name it. I want to the “native” man to think about them. And as a “native” woman, i often wonder if he does. That’s the essence of the problem.
almashkalgy – who *#&%$ cares what the “white man” (wreaks of ignorance when you use that term) or western view of these crimes. What are you doing about it? Do you care about rights or are you more concerned with how it is viewed by the west? Focus on THIS woman who was killed by her brother. (oh wait…I think there was a case in Oakland in which the brother of a…..)
Rima,,,,It seems to me you are not reading what I posted…
مشان البطخ والبطاط أقري ما كتبته
Carlos22,,,,,Read what i posted ,again don’t wast your time ,the problem is not caused by me ,but you king and his entourage,,…