Comments on: The Most Dishonorable Crime In Jordan

By: Nas

Nas — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:24:26 +0000

Rawan, ahlan and thanks for sharing your thoughts. one of the biggest obstacles to getting the penal protection thrown out is indeed the lower house of parliament and the fact that we have massive disproportionate voting districts. the government, or rather the king’s vision has been to rectify that situation as part of political reform. i think once thats done the tribal powers will decrease.

that being said this is an urgent cause that should have a temporary law if it can’t get past the parliament. that being said the government will meet massive social outburst if they do that.

By: Rawan

Rawan — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 16:58:27 +0000

I am currently working on a quantitive research paper on the Reasons Behind Honor Killings in Jordan. What I am finding so far, is that the reasons are inter-related including that such killings are sanctioned by the Jordanian Penal Code soecifically articles 340, 98 and the influence of the tribal traditions (off course no offence to any one here, I love our tribes, I think they contribute a great deal to our country) but their old on traditions and their status in the parliament would allow such rejections of the memorandum to outlaw honor killings or even increase the punishments. The third coorelated reason is societal beliefs and perceptions of women and honor. Our society perceiptions of women as weak individuals who need protection but then evil doers whom society needs protection from so they justify their slaughter. Of equal importance is the relation of women chastity to their family’s honor. Please, do not misunderstand where I am coming from on this topic. I am a Jordanian from Irbid who was born and raised in Zarqa and I came here to the US to get education and I graduating and holding BA in Political Science/ Minor in Global Studies with emphasise on the Middle East. It is just inhumane how women have to deal with such pressure and try to function well in sociey and prosper sp hopefully they can stand u for themselves and take part in such important social changes.

I just thought of sharing my thoughts nd findings with everyone here.
Allah yehayyeko jamee3an!

By: Nas

Nas — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:11:59 +0000

RocketRay, the answer to both questions is no.

By: RocketRay

RocketRay — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:06:38 +0000

Is there any justification for this in the Koran? Or rather, some fucked up bass-ackwards interpretation that gives people religious permission to perpetrate such crimes?

By: Abu Sinan

Abu Sinan — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 11:32:50 +0000

It’s the baby that worries me the most. Why is it that the innocent children always suffer for the actions of us adults?

So now the baby has no mother, it is most certain that the father of the child, and he knows who he is, will not claim it, thus doubling HIS sin.

When is someone going to kill the father, the men, who do things like this? Why is it only the women that pay?

I think if the men were put to death this might stop a bot quicker, being that women seem to be cheap items, it goes on.

Why is it that the “family honour” rests on the women when the familes have men, scharmoot, running around?

The hypocrisy makes me SO mad.

By: lksfadljk

lksfadljk — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:34:12 +0000

Please, no death penalty. Let us fix our problems in Jordan, not kill each other. Besides, these people who kill would be ‘let of easily’ with a death penalty rather than serving a long-term sentence in a Jordan prison ;P

By: bo3bo3

bo3bo3 — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 13:38:58 +0000

Nasnas

If the punishment fits the crime, then there should be less crimes. It’s time to apply the islamic law of death panelty toward murders. What happened is a musrer, and the mother and sister should receive the death panelty. If this won’t stop such crimes, it will at least be fair for the victim.

By: Mnal JO

Mnal JO — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 13:34:08 +0000

I guess that the problrm also that our women raised up to think in men mentality !!our females Mestarjelat!! u see the female does not sympathize with other women ,,she thinks in men mentality..they raised up on this it’s in thier minds..alla yer7am el da7iyeh ameen

By: Khalidah

Khalidah — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 08:02:29 +0000

This is horrible really …

I want this law changed not only because I am hoping this would reduce crime, but I want those who commit the murders to be punished …

So I am not really concerned how the law affects these stupid backward people because as the Observer said: it might not … but I want them after they commit the murder not to get out easily because this is what is happening now …

By: Hal

Hal — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 07:58:44 +0000

Makes me feel sick…nauseous…

And I wonder, what happend to the new born baby? Did it get butchered to death too?

And is it really only a couple of years in jail? Because I thought it was acutally just a couple of MONTHS in jail for murdererslike these.

By: The Observer

The Observer — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 07:43:16 +0000

I am not much sure about how much punishment affect someone at the time of a crime. I would say that reaching to a level of killing another soul means that nothing else matters except of gitting rid of this person.

But still, very well said in your post Nas. We ought to get rid of such backward rules. It is embarrassing to know that we still have such ones.

It is sad to know that people are still killing each other for this!

By: Jameel

Jameel — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 07:21:47 +0000

IKSFADLJK, I agree with you that changing the law would not stop these terrible crimes, but it will definitely reduce the numbers significantly. One reason for this expected drop is that it will definitely stop the murders that are not genuinely honor related but claimed as such to escape punishment.
I heard of crimes where guys killed the women they were pimping, their wives and sisters, and then claimed it was an honor killing. Also honor killings in many instances have been the main defense for crimes committed because of family feuds related to inheritance and other financial motives.

By: jameed

jameed — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 05:34:16 +0000

I find it hard to believe that the male members of the family were not aware of the intention of the mother and sister. In fact, I may not be exaggerating when I say they probably were the ones who pushed them to commit the crime because, as you mentioned, it is a matter of a couple of years in prison and they are out.

By: Nas

Nas — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 04:14:00 +0000

lksfadljk, ah but hope has not humanity’s strong suite. and im not against capital punishment, i think its still a categorical imparitive depending on its proper usage by the state. what i was suggesting was that when government increase punishments and minimums or maximums, they do probably play some role in detering those crimes from happening, or at the prospect of them does.

and therin lies our problem…those who condone this and refuse to accept the legislation are worried that considering this a normal murder would lead people to stop doing it and therefore increase “moral degradation”…in other words their fear is that harsher punishments will deter people from doing it and therefore “preserving society”…or in the framework of the wild west…take the law into their own hands…literally (if we’re thinking in shakespearean)

the king can dissolve parliament and can veto their legislation (but the par. can overturn it with a 2/3 majority).

By: Iman

Iman — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 03:10:48 +0000

How can someone be this vicious…heartless…emotionless…I can’t imagine! How do they go on living with their lives knowing that they took a piece of it away with their own bloody hands!

This is one of the sick traditions we have! If such crime was never protected by the law, perhaps committing it wouldn’t be as prevalent!

By: lksfadljk

lksfadljk — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 02:54:08 +0000

I think the King can veto parliament and even kick it out and start again. But I might be wrong about that. I am also against capital punishment by the way Nas And I think that in the US you’ll find a lot of studies on whether or not capital punishment has any effect on crime (which it doesn’t). But if it was reduced to two years, I can’t say I know what will happen but I hope, for the sake of my lingering shred of faith in humanity, that murder would not increase.

By: Nas

Nas — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 02:38:19 +0000

bo3bo3, the king can push for a law by way of government (which he has) but the constitution endows legislative powers to the parliament.

lksfadljk, we have a law that says murdering someone may be punishable by the maximum penalty of death, yet murders still happen. If the penalty was reduced to only 2 years of prison would murders increase or decrease?

p.s. you need a better screen-name than that

By: bo3bo3

bo3bo3 — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 02:24:14 +0000

ignorance at it’s best. this is so sickening. I think the king needs to interven in this matter and abolish this law once and for all.

By: lksfadljk

lksfadljk — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 01:58:46 +0000

I agree, of course, that they should change this law. They should have changed it along time ago. And it should have never existed in the first place. But when we do change it, it’s not gonna fix much, if anything. People in Turkey still commit honour crimes, even though it’s illegal. The problem is deeper than that and has to do with poverty and education. If we improve those, then we lessen gender inequality, if we lessen gender inequality, we lessen women’s internalised-hatred of themselves such that they would be able to kill their own daughters, and we also change the image that men hold of women. So, yeah I think Article340 should be changed, but I don’t expect it to make a real difference. It’s just that it shouldn’t be there and makes me sick that it is.