CAIRO: The murder of a Syrian woman and her husband by the woman's brother in an alleged “honor killing” has again put the spotlight back on women's rights in the Middle East. According to a Syrian daily newspaper, the brother killed the 30-year-old pregnant woman and her husband after they had run away together and married four months earlier. The couple had married against her family's wishes, the al-Thawra newspaper reported. According to the report, the brother confessed to police that his family had rejected reconciliation with the sister because he said they considered her actions “disgraceful.” Witnesses at the scene told police there were 12 armed men present when the crime was committed. While Jordan is more known for its honor crimes against women, the Syrian case has shown that these crimes are not only a Jordanian issue. Syrian-American activist Salma – she asked that her surname be withheld – told Bikya Masr that she is always “fearful of how honor plays out in the region. “The way women are treated is awful sometimes. The idea that because the woman ran away with the man she loved causes her to be killed, when she is pregnant, is disgusting,” she said. London-based human rights group Amnesty International had criticized Syria this year for its laws that allow men who commit violence against women “in a fit of rage” to evade serious punishment if their crimes are deemed to be committed in the name of preserving family “honor.” In July last year, President Bashar al-Assad decreed that men who killed or injured female relatives on such grounds should receive a minimum penalty of at least two years in prison, a move described by rights organizations as a “small contribution to solving the problem.” Across the region, in Jordan and Egypt, honor killings are seemingly on the rise. In Upper Egypt, local rights groups have pointed to a number of cases where women have been violently beaten as a result of “going outside the norm” of the family. In Jordan, continued murdering of daughters and sisters over the honor of the family has left many observers concerned that the situation is simply not improving. The debate is ongoing and with the recent cases, it appears Jordan is a long way off from establishing a unified view concerning honor killings. “The majority of people I have talked to really want to see an end to this phenomena in Jordan,” Rana Husseini, an activist and journalist for the English daily, The Jordan Times, told Bikya Masr last year. In the United States, conservative Christian leaders have argued that honor killings are “part of Islamic teaching,” as one preacher in Florida said recently. However, Husseini says that across the region this sentiment couldn't be as far from reality. She believes that honor killings are not a modern construction and has nothing to do with religion. “This is not specific to Jordan or to one religion. It happens all over the world and has nothing to do with Arab culture,” she continues, adding that some of the victims in Jordan have been Christian. The Jordanian government, for its part, has called on judges to deal with alleged “honor crimes” in the same manner as they do for normal murders. However, with a predominantly Bedouin Parliament, this is proving difficult. Parliament has been urged to establish harsher penalties for such crimes, but they have been reluctant to do so, saying that if they did so it would lead to an increase in promiscuity across the country. Husseini, Salma and rights groups worldwide have continued to call on governments in the region to act now to end these assaults on women's ability to live their lives. Without legal action, Salma believes, there is little that women can do but fear. BM
