No prison if you kill your daughter in the name of honour

On Tuesday, a Moroccan living in the north of Italy stabbed his 18-year-old daughter to death.
His motive - she was going out with a 1-year-old !atholic. This ty"e of #honour $illing# was
headline news in Italy, but in some countries in %orth &frica, 'outh &sia and the Middle (ast,
the "ractice is relatively common.
&ccording to %)O Human Rights Watch, an honour crime is #committed by male family
members against female family members who are "erceived to have brought dishonour u"on the
family#.
In *++* a re"ort by the ,% !ommission for Human -ights said this $ind of crime too$ "lace in
(gy"t, Iran, .ordan, 'yria, /ebanon, Morocco, 0a$istan, Tur$ey, and other )ulf and
Mediterranean countries. &ccording to the report, in (uro"ean countries such as 1rance,
)ermany and the ,nited 2ingdom this $ind of crime only occurred within immigrant
communities. The list is not e3haustive. 4emen, Ira5i 2urdistan, 6angladesh and the 0alestinian
Territories are all areas where the "ractice is on the increase.
There are no official statistics for honour $illings because they are usually committed in the
family home and then disguised as accidents. 4et, every year, honour $illings are said to claim
the lives of u" to 7+ women in .ordan, *++ in 'yria, 7++ in 4emen and over a thousand in
0a$istan. In the 0alestinian Territories, 70 percent of crimes "er"etrated against women are
thought to be honour $illings, while the ma8ority of them are attributed to natural causes.
,nli$e a crime of "assion, an honour crime is "remeditated. &nd yet, sentences in many
countries are usually only a cou"le of months long, ma3imum two years. The "ersecutor benefits
from e3tenuating circumstances and is occasionally e3cused com"letely, esca"ing without
charge.
In .ordan, 9ueen -ania has "ublicly called for tougher sentencing of honour crimes. 6ut the
"arliament there has twice refused to abolish &rticle :+ of the "enal code, o"ting instead to
modify it and allow convicted honour $illers to be sentenced for a few months only.
0a$istan however has voted to introduce a law to "unish honour $illers with the death "enalty.
&nd in Tur$ey, where honour $illers used to incur 8ust an eighth of the normal sentence, life
im"risonment is now a real "ossibility.
These said crimes affect both Muslim and Christian families in yria!
6assam &l$adi runs the 'yrian ;omen<s Observatory, a cam"aign against honour crimes
launched in *++7.
=;omen are usually murdered for behavioural and societal reasons, li$e falling in love with a
"erson from another faith, even if se3ual relations or marriage are not involved. The family can
also >get rid of< a woman because they don<t a""rove of the man she<s married, or because it<s the
easiest way to "rotect the heritage.
!ontrary to "o"ular o"inion, these said crimes affect both Muslim and !hristian families in
'yria, according to a study com"iled by our observatory. This "lague is not fussy about religion,
social class or level of education.
The 'yrian law which affects this has recently been modified ?article 7:8 was re"ealed due to the
legislative decry @A. Honour $illers no longer benefit from absolute e3em"tion, but only from
mitigating circumstances. This alteration however doesn<t ma$e much difference, as in the case
of honour crimes, 8udges are able to reach their verdict using another article - article 1B* - in
consideration that the aggressor committed the crime due to an >honourable motive<, and
therefore faces a ma3imum of one year.
It must also be "ointed out that it<s only men who benefit from this. & 'yrian woman who $illed
her husband after finding out that he was ra"ing her daughters got 1* years in "rison.#