Jordan: The Battle To Punish Honor Crimes Continues - Brief Article

WIN News, Spring, 2000

FROM: Jordanlnfo@aol.com

"More than 5,000 Jordanians, led by Their Royal Highnesses Prince Ali and Prince Ghazi, demonstrated in front of Parliament and later at the Prime Ministry, calling for the abolition of a law that gives lenience to killers in so-called crimes of honour.

'We are here to express the will of the Jordanian people to cancel this article that does not reflect our customs, traditions or Islamic Sharia,' Prince Ali told President of the Upper House Zeid Rifai.

'I feel ashamed when we know that such a law exists, a law that was opposed by (the late) King Hussein and His Majesty King Abdullah,' Prince Ali told the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Abdul Hadi Majali and other deputies. Prince Ali and Prince Ghazi were accompanied by a delegation of women and human rights activists at the House.

Prince Ghazi, King Abdullah's advisor on tribal affairs, said, 'there is no basis for Article 340 in our religion or culture, and I think the deputies should reconsider their decision.'

But Majali told the delegation that the Parliament's stand on this issue is very clear. 'We have our own customs and traditions and we (deputies) are insisting that if an individual surprises his female relative and kills her, he should benefit from a reduction (in penalty),' Majali told the delegation[ldots]Reminding the deputies that they are the representatives of the people, Prince Ali said, 'Look outside and you will see the people who oppose this law. We urge you to reconsider.

The Lower House of Parliament has twice rejected a government-proposed amendment to Article 340 to the Penal Code that would mete our harsher sentences on those who kill in the name of 'defending family honour.'

The rejection flew in the face of a recent national petition that garnered 15,000 signatures demanding the abolition of the article. The Senate voted in favour of the amendment. If it votes for a second time in favour of the amendment, it will be put to a joint vote.

Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators thronged the terrace outside the Parliament. Tribal leaders, human and women's rights activists, and individuals from the public and private sectors as well as school children held black flags in memory of all the women who have been killed in the name of honour and lifted banners that denounced Article 340 and all violence against women.

Article 340 exempts from punishment individuals who kill their female relatives found committing adultery and reduces penalty for ones who kill their female relatives who are found in an adulterous situation. The newly established Ajial (Generation) Party, a centrist party based in Zarqa, issued a statement condemning Article 340 which they said is used as 'a pretext for killers to commit all sorts of crimes against innocent women.'

The Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, issued a fatwa on the same day of the march stating that 'cancelling Article 340 contradicts Islamic Sharia.' 'This article does not encourage killings as much as it encourages preserving one's virtues and the honour of the family,' stated the fatwa, which called on Muslims to stop the 'suspicious campaign' that is targeted at deputies[ldots]

In the television interview Sheikh Tamimi, who is King Abdullah's advisor for Islamic affairs, said men who kill their female relatives for 'honour reasons' are contradicting Islamic Sharia."