Women and violence - reprinted from Al-Raida - Rape scandals at US Service Academies - Violence Against Women, Polygamy And Child Marriage - Reprint

WIN News, Summer, 2003 by Rana Husseini

JORDAN: A DUAL VIOLATION OF WOMEN'S CIVIL RIGHTS

BY RANA HUSSEINI, FROM 'AL-RAIDA', INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN'S STUDIES IN THE ARAB WORLD, LEBANESE UNIVERSITY, P.O. Box 13-5053, Chouran, Beirut, 1102 2801 LEBANON

fax: 961 1 791645; e-mail: al-raida@lau.edu.lb

"Jordanian women who commit a crime, serve their sentence and then walk free. Others--some of them guilty only in the eyes of their family and the Muslim society--end up in prison and never leave. This is the story of One of these women, Kifah, who is destined to spend the rest of her life in prison, because government authorities cannot release her out of fear she will be killed by her family.

Kifah (not her real name) was 18 when she was first admitted to the Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center located in Jewideh, south of the capital Amman. She had been shot at 22 times by her enraged uncle. Her only fault was rejecting her family's arranged marriage to her cousin, and instead eloping with her lover to a neighboring country. Her uncle caught up with both of them just before crossing the Jordanian border. He fired 22 times towards her direction, but only four bullets struck her and she survived the shooting incident. She was treated at a government hospital and then transferred to the Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center.

That was in 1989. She is one of around 40 women who were spending indefinite time at this Center, most of them without any charges except alleged or suspected involvement in "immoral behaviors", becoming pregnant out of wedlock or having been a victim of rape or incest.

Kifah, who has wasted 12 years of her life in the women's detention center, is optimistic and wants to leave her detention place to start a new life ... However, the prison officials are certain that her family will never forgive her and instead would kill her as soon as they find her. Knowing that her fate would be bleak if she was ever released, Kifah still has high hopes that one day she will be released from prison to fulfill many of her stalled dreams. 'I am certain one of these days I will be out of here. Then I will continue my education and eventually work to earn a decent living,' she says. The Jordanian local press has reported many cases of families actually bailing out their daughters with the intent of killing them to cleanse the family's honor. These women cannot leave the prison ... The Government has the authority to keep these women in prison since releasing them would get them killed.

Between 20 to 25 women are killed in Jordan every year in 'crimes of honor,' a practice condemned by many officials and human rights activists. Male relatives kill their female relatives for either their actual or their suspected involvement in an affair with a man--a taboo in Jordan's conservative society which links family honor to the behavior of women. One 24-year-old woman, who has been in the Center since 1996, says, 'I am dead either way. Inside the prison I am dead, and if I leave the prison, I am dead.'

CONDITIONS AT THE PRISON

One prison official said, in describing the mental state of some of these women: 'We feel that some of them are destroyed ... we do not see them smiling--instead, we sense distress and sadness in their hearts ... everyday is the same to them.' Realizing the mental status of these inmates and the fact that most of them do not belong behind the bars, prison officials designated a special section of the building for them. Here, they are away from the convicted women. They have their own kitchen and enjoy more freedom of mobility. 'Unfortunately, there is not much we can do here other than encourage them to go on, because we are only an executive authority and we apply the law,' says a prison official ..."

EDITOR'S NOTE:

It is outrageous that the young King of Jordan has done nothing to punish these murders of women--which is the only way they will stop--by imprisoning the murderers for life which will set an example for the whole country. This king--elected by noone--now rules Jordan after King Hussein his father died from cancer a few years ago. He must be held responsible for failing to enforce the law against murder which is also a violation of international human rights. He is responsible for allowing murders of women to go free in his country.

The widow of King Hussein is a wealthy American woman who now travels around the world in luxury and often comes to the U.S. appearing on TV. She has totally ignored the young women in Jordan who are constantly being threatened with murder by the distorted moslem morality of their families.

The young king travels around the Middle East playing statesman instead of taking care of the poverty in his country where young women continue to be killed by their own families, which he has ignored. He must be held responsible for these murders--as king he is required to implementing the laws against murder and to support human rights--he has utterly failed his basic obligations as king.