Equally to blame

Jailan Halawi finds women may soon enjoy a right long reserved to men alone
A Maadi court of misdemeanours was about to issue a ruling in an adultery lawsuit when proceedings came to an abrupt halt: the husband announced he was dropping the case. He had divorced his wife, and she would never live down the resulting scandal, he explained: enough harm had been done.
The judge acquitted the unfaithful wife and her lover, but another surprise was in store. A woman stood up and urged the judge not to release the adulterers, insisting that she, in turn, had the right to initiate an adultery lawsuit: the lover, as it happened, was none other than her husband.
The judge, however, informed the outraged woman that she could not sue her husband for adultery since the act had not taken place in the marital abode. She parried, arguing that this legal provision contravenes a constitutional provision granting men and women equal rights and duties. The psychological harm occasioned by adultery, she added, is the same for a man and a woman.
The judge accepted her argument as valid and referred the provision to the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) to rule on its constitutionality.
Under Egyptian law, adultery is defined as sexual intercourse between a woman and a man other than her husband, or between a man and a woman other than his wife. The perpetrator of the crime is the married person; the other party is an accomplice. If both partners are married -- to other people, of course -- the result is two separate crimes of adultery. For the husband's betrayal to be considered adultery, it must take place in the matrimonial residence. The location a wife chooses for her extramarital activities is irrelevant. As for punishment, an adulterous wife faces a maximum of two years' imprisonment, while an adulterous husband faces a maximum of only six months. Should a husband catch his wife in flagrante delicto and kill her on the spot, he faces a maximum of three years in prison, and may be spared punishment altogether. A wife doing the same in a similar situation is punished by a maximum of 15 years with hard labour.
Lawyers as well as women's and human rights activists have repeatedly cited the "adultery law" and similar legislation to buttress their argument that laws regulating family life and women's personal status discriminate against women. Their criticism has fallen on deaf ears -- until now. "There is flagrant discrimination [in the legislation on adultery], which contravenes both the Shari'a and the Constitution," says Fawziya Abdel- Sattar, former chair of the legislative committee at the People's Assembly, and a vocal proponent of amendments to this law. "We have pinned our hopes on the Supreme Constitutional Court, which can put an end to this injustice," Abdel-Sattar adds.
"It is time to take a stance and fight vice in our community. This will not happen until comprehensive equality between the sexes is achieved on all levels," argues Zeinab Radwan, dean of Cairo University's Dar Al-Ulum (Fayoum branch) and vice-rapporteur of the legislative committee at the National Council for Women (NCW). Failing to provide appropriate penalties for the crime of adultery, Radwan notes, "facilitates vice and threatens the well-being of the family, where the parents ought to serve as models for their children."
Since theft and murder carry the same penalties for men and women, Radwan believes adultery should be punished equally too. "Not penalising marital infidelity for men if it is committed outside the marital abode is a euphemism for tolerating crime. It's as if the law is granting men the right to betray their wives, as long as they do so outside the home," Radwan continues.
According to Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour, deputy of the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the penalty Shari'a stipulates for adultery is the same for men and women. "Adultery is adultery, whether committed by a man or a woman. Regardless of the whereabouts, it is still a sin: both [men and women] are cursed by God and face the same penalty," Ashour states.
Under Shari'a, unmarried adulterers face a penalty of up to 100 lashes; if they are married, their crime is punishable by stoning until death. The aim of such severe punishment, Ashour explains, is to "uphold society's chastity" and "preserve genealogies [i.e. ascertain paternity]." The application of hudud (Islamic punishment), however, is contingent upon the adulterers being caught in the act, as certified by four competent witnesses. Shari'a thereby makes it virtually impossible to prove adultery in practice, opening the door "for sinners to repent and correct their deviant behaviour," he adds.
In the case of the Maadi tryst and its potentially earth-shattering fallout, if the Supreme Constitutional Court rules in favour of the betrayed wife, it will declare the legislation on adultery null and void. The Ministry of Justice will then have to draw up a draft law and send it to the People's Assembly for debate and ratification.
"Judging by its record, the Supreme Constitutional Court usually rules in favour of lawsuits contesting the legality of a certain text, and so this case is bound to win," believes Hafez Abu Se'da, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR). Abu Se'da supports his contention by arguing that the judge who referred the case to the Supreme Constitutional Court believes the betrayed wife's argument is valid, "otherwise he would have rejected the case."
Whatever the SCC's ruling, this case -- the first of its kind in almost a century -- is sure to stir up yet more controversy. And until the ripples ebb, only one thing is certain: when they embarked on their affair, advancing the cause of women's rights was probably the furthest thing from the straying spouses' minds.
: Artist Gamil Shafik is best known for his pointillist compositions around a series of symbols, among which creatures of air, earth and water recur frequently -- fish (signifying fertility and abundance in Ancient Egyptian and Coptic iconography) but also hooved and winged beings (allegorical representatives of strength and freedom respectively). Here, birds perch precariously amidst the ominous defences of a sturdy cactus plant: a reminder that the path to blissful communion is paved with the potential to cause fatal wounds, and often clips the most vigorous of wings?
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