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:''The regime of honour is unforgiving: women on whom suspicion has fallen are not given an opportunity to defend themselves, and family members have no socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain on their honour by attacking the woman.''<ref>[[Amnesty International]]: [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engACT400012001 Broken bodies, shattered minds - Torture and ill-treatment of women], Report, March 6, 2001</ref>
:''The regime of honour is unforgiving: women on whom suspicion has fallen are not given an opportunity to defend themselves, and family members have no socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain on their honour by attacking the woman.''<ref>[[Amnesty International]]: [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engACT400012001 Broken bodies, shattered minds - Torture and ill-treatment of women], Report, March 6, 2001</ref>


===In Muslim majority countries===
{{Cleanup|date=June 2007}}
Honor killing is forbidden in [[Islam]].<ref>Kecia Ali: [http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/Pages/honorkillings.html Honor Killings, Illicit Sex, and Islamic Law], ''The Feminist Sexual Ethics Project'', June 10, 2003</ref> There is no specific mention of the practice in the [[Qur'an]] or [[Hadith]]s except in so far as the custom of killing baby girls to protect the family honor, which is specifically condemned in the Qur'an, was a form of honor killing. An honor killing refers specifically to extra-legal punishment by the family against the woman, and it is often argued that this is technically forbidden by the [[Sharia]] (Islamic law). Some modern Islamic religious authorities and Muslims disagree with extra-legal punishments such as honor killing and prohibit it, since they consider the practice to be a cultural issue.<ref name="HKIP">[[IslamOnline.net]]: [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543392 Honor Killing from an Islamic Perspective], June 17, 2002</ref> They believe that since certain pre-Islamic cultures have influence over a number of Muslims, murderers of females use Islam to justify honor killing, even though there is no support for the act in the religion itself. The [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] cannot always be applied in the Sharia as murders are a type of "[[qisas]]" ("retaliation") crime.{{Fact|date=July 2007}} This means that the deceased's family should be offered the choice of capital punishment or "[[diyya]]" ("[[Blood money (term)|blood money]]") and no execution can take place without them opting for death. Because a relative(s) is usually responsible for the honor killing, it is unlikely that the deceased's family will punish one of their own for the crime.<ref>Islam Online (Atiyyah Saqr): [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503544188 Reprisal in Islamic Legal System], March 30, 2005</ref>. However other punishments can be legislated and the murderer cannot pardon himself.<ref>[http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ABewley/RisAhkam.html Chapter 37. Judgements on Homicide and Hadd-Punishments]</ref>


The execution of the [[Saudi Arabia]]n [[Misha'al bint Fahd al Saud|princess Misha'al]] is an example of a judicial honor killing, in which the execution did not follow any Islamic religious court proceeding, but was ordered directly by her grandfather,who was never brought to book for this murder

Interpretations of these rules vary. Some Arabs regard it as their right under both tradition and Sharia (by the process of [[urf]]), though this contradicts the views of many Islamic scholars (''[[Faqih|fuqaha]]''). For the Shias, Ayatollah [[Ali Khamenei]] of Iran has condemned the practice as "un-Islamic", though punishment under Iranian law remains lenient. According to Sheikh Atiyyah Saqr, former head of the [[al-Azhar University]] [[Fatwa]] Committee (one of the oldest and most prestigious in the [[Muslim world]]):

:''Like all other religions, Islam strictly prohibits murder and killing without legal justification. [[Allah]], Most High, says, “Whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is [[Jahannam|Hell]] for ever. Allah is wroth against him and He hath cursed him and prepared for him an awful doom.” ([[An-Nisa|An-Nisa’]]: 93) The so-called “honor killing” is based on ignorance and disregard of morals and laws, which cannot be abolished except by disciplinary punishments''. <ref name="HKIP">Islam Online: [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543392 Honor Killing from an Islamic Perspective], June 17, 2002</ref>

This opinion makes a clear distinction between "[[hudud]]" crimes, which have specified legal penalty in Islamic law, and "[[tazir]]" offenses, which can have a discretionary punishment decided by the judge. Honor killings are tazir crimes, not hudud ones, meaning that any punishment is either culturally defined, or is established by secular law.

Many Muslim scholars and commentators say that honor killings are a cultural practice which is neither exclusive to, nor universal within, the Islamic world. The practice is little known in [[Indonesia]], the world's most populous Islamic country, as well as in parts of [[West Africa]] with majority-Muslim populations.<ref>http://www.nuradeen.com/Reflections/ElementsOfSufism3.htm</ref> However the practice is strongly associated with the [[Arabic language|Arabic]]- [[Turkish language|Turkish]]-[[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]- and [[Urdu]]-speaking parts of the Muslim world. Furthermore, most cases involving the practice in non-Muslim areas involve people from Muslim-majority countries.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3828675.stm</ref><ref>http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1244406,00.html</ref>

Islamic teaching holds that life is given by Allah and should not be taken lightly, but it allows severe punishment, up to and including capital punishment, for certain kinds of crime; these include, in strict interpretations, all [[extramarital sex]]ual relations by both men and women — though only adulterers may be punished with death (see [[Zina (Arabic)|Zina]]). Islamic law makes it very hard to punish families for their murder of their daughters through the necessity of offering the family of the victim the right to offer clemency to the killer.

The interpretation and application of laws relating to marriage and chastity has varied in different eras and places. (See [[Islamic marital jurisprudence]], [[Zina (Arabic)|Zina]]).


==Honor killing in national legal codes==
==Honor killing in national legal codes==

Revision as of 20:19, 19 July 2007

Part of a series on
Homicide
Murder

Note: Varies by jurisdiction

Manslaughter
Non-criminal homicide

Note: Varies by jurisdiction

Family
Other

Honor killing as a cultural practice or religious practice

Sharif Kanaana, professor of anthropology at Birzeit University states that honor killing is:

A complicated issue that cuts deep into the history of Arab society. .. What the men of the family, clan, or tribe seek control of in a patrilineal society is reproductive power. Women for the tribe were considered a factory for making men. The honor killing is not a means to control sexual power or behavior. What's behind it is the issue of fertility, or reproductive power.[citation needed]

An Amnesty International statement adds:

The regime of honour is unforgiving: women on whom suspicion has fallen are not given an opportunity to defend themselves, and family members have no socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain on their honour by attacking the woman.[1]


Honor killing in national legal codes

According to the report of the Special Rapporteur submitted to the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (2002) concerning cultural practices in the family that reflect violence against women (E/CN.4/2002/83):

The Special Rapporteur indicated that there had been contradictory decisions with regard to the honor defense in Brazil, and that legislative provisions allowing for partial or complete defense in that context could be found in the penal codes of Argentina, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Peru, Syria, Venezuela and the Palestinian National Authority.[2]

Though Israel is mentioned in the report, Israeli law does not allow for "family honor" as a defense in murder, partially or completely[3].

Countries where the law is interpreted to allow men to kill female relatives in a premeditated effort as well as for crimes of passions, in flagrante delicto in the act of committing adultery, include:

  • Jordan: Part of article 340 of the Penal Code states that "he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty." This has twice been put forward for cancellation by the government, but was retained by the Lower House of the Parliament.[4]

Countries that allow men to kill female relatives in flagrante delicto (but without premeditation) include:

  • Syria: Article 548 states that "He who catches his wife or one of his ascendants [sic], descendants or sister committing adultery (flagrante delicto) or illegitimate sexual acts with another and he killed or injured one or both of them benefits from an exemption of penalty."

Countries that allow husbands to kill only their wives in flagrante delicto (based upon the Napoleonic code) include:

  • Morocco: Article 418 of the Penal Code states "Murder, injury and beating are excusable if they are committed by a husband on his wife as well as the accomplice at the moment in which he surprises them in the act of adultery."
  • Haiti: Article 269 of the Penal Code states that "in the case of adultery as provided for in Article 284, the murder by a husband of his wife and/or her partner, immediately upon discovering them in flagrante delicto in the conjugal abode, is to be pardoned."
  • In two Latin American countries, similar laws were struck down over the past two decades: according to human rights lawyer Julie Mertus "in Brazil, until 1991 wife killings were considered to be noncriminal 'honor killings'; in just one year, nearly eight hundred husbands killed their wives. Similarly, in Colombia, until 1980, a husband legally could kill his wife for committing adultery."[5]

Countries where honor killing is not legal but is frequently in practice include:

  • Turkey: In Turkey, persons found guilty of this crime are sentenced to life in prison.[6]
  • Iraqi Kurdistan: In Kurdistan, women are killed nearly every day for 'dishonoring' their families. Honor killing was legal until 2002 in Iraq.
  • Pakistan: Honor killings are known as Karo Kari (Sindhi: ڪارو ڪاري) (Urdu: کاروکاری ). The practice is supposed to be prosecuted under ordinary murder, but in practice police and prosecutors often ignore it.[7] Often a man must simply claim the killing was for his honor and he will go free. Nilofar Bakhtiar, advisor to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, stated that in 2003, as many as 1,261 women were murdered in honor killings.[8] On December 8, 2004, under international and domestic pressure, Pakistan enacted a law that made honor killings punishable by a prison term of seven years, or by the death penalty in the most extreme cases. Women's rights organizations were, however, wary of this law as it stops short of outlawing the practice of allowing killers to buy their freedom by paying compensation to the victim's relatives. Women's rights groups claimed that in most cases it is the victim's immediate relatives who are the killers, so inherently the new law is just eyewash. It did not alter the provisions whereby the accused could negotiate pardon with the victim's family under the so-called Islamic provisions. In March 2005 the Pakistani government allied with Islamists to reject a bill which sought to strengthen the law against the practice of "honor killing".[9] However, the bill was brought up again, and in November 2006, it passed.[10]. It is doubtful whether or not the law would actually help women.[11]

During the year 2002 about four hundred people (men & women) were killed in the name of (Karo-Kari) in Sindh Out of 382 (245 women, 137 men). The phenomenon of the killing in the name of honor has direct relevance to the illiteracy rate, as these killings are more common in the areas where the literacy rate is lower. According to a report issued by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Jacobabad District ranked first in terms of murder in the name of Karo Kari (66 women, 25 men). Jacobabad district has a literacy rate of 23.66, the least literate district of Sindh after Tharparkar District, and Thatta District. After Jacobabad, the Ghotki District witnessed the highest number of murders in the name of Karo Kari (13 men, 54 women).

After Ghotki, Larkana is the district with the next highest murder rate in the name of Karo Kari (24 men, 38 women). Larkana as well, has a low literacy rate of 34.95. This is lower than even Naushahro Feroze District, Dadu District, and Khairpur District, having 39.14, 35.56 and 35.50 percent literacy rates respectively. These districts of the upper Sindh have low literacy rates but high feudal influence in every walk of life.

Jacobabad, Ghotki and Larkana are those districts of Sindh where not only the illiterate ones, but tribal chieftains are also in large number. According to a report released by the HRCP, the cases of Karo Kari are mostly settled at jirgas, the private and parallel judicial system of Chieftains. However, districts of lower parts of Sindh like Tharparkar, Badin, and Thatta experience nominal occurrences of honor killings because they have lower amount of feudal influence there.[12]

See also

Further reading

References and notes

  1. ^ Amnesty International: Broken bodies, shattered minds - Torture and ill-treatment of women, Report, March 6, 2001
  2. ^ United Nations General Assembly: Template:PDFlink, July 2, 2002
  3. ^ Knesset report on honor killings, June 27th, 2001 (Hebrew)
  4. ^ Rana Husseini: Lower House again rejects cancelling Article 340 of Penal Code, Jordan Times, January 27, 2000
  5. ^ James D. Wilets: Conceptualizing private violence against sexual minorities as gendered violence: an international and comparative law perspective, 60 Albany Law Review 989, 1994
  6. ^ Dan Bilefsky: How to Avoid Honor Killing in Turkey? Honor Suicide, New York Times, July 16, 2006
  7. ^ Taipei Times: Pakistan's honor killings enjoy high-level support, July 24, 2004
  8. ^ Salman Masood: Pakistan Tries to Curb 'Honor Killings', New York Times, October 27, 2004
  9. ^ BBC News: Pakistan rejects pro-women bill, March 2, 2005
  10. ^ Asim Yasin: Pakistan's Senate Approve Women Protection Bill, Ohmy News, November 25, 2006
  11. ^ The Reality of ‘Women Protection Bill’
  12. ^ Sindh Education Department
  13. ^ Malcolm Knox: Historian challenges Palestinian bestseller, Sydney Morning Herald, April 13, 2005

External links

Included in article

Not included in article

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