Women killers kill because they care too much.
It happens still in some very "religious" societies if your sister gets raped , one way to preserve your family's honor in the community, Joe , is to kill her . They are called "honor killings" , and account for nearly 1/2 of all the murders of young females in the country of Jordan , for instance .
cbsnews.com
Solitary confinement is not the most severe punishment that could be doled out. In Pakistan and other locales, a woman perceived to be immoral can be killed to cleanse the family name. So-called honor crimes - marrying someone without approval, engaging in premarital sex or even being a victim of rape - are punishable by death.
While the government of Jordan doesn't sanction honor killings, the practice accounts for more than half of the women murdered in this country.
Protesters there have organized. Activists say that there is no justification for this in the Koran or the Islam religion. This old practice, perhaps a tribal tradition, dates back centuries. People who think it's sanctioned by their religion are wrong, activists say.
In Jordan, where this issue of punishing honor crimes is openly discussed, many feel their country is being unfairly singled out for something that people are honest about acknowledging. Even the royalty there are trying to fight such practices and have made progress in raising awareness and changing old attitudes.
Sirhan Abdulla's 16-year-old sister Yasmine was a victim of rape. This brought unbearable shame to the family.
"We were in hell," recalled Abdulla. "It was like we were being turned on a spit. We were all like that. My father got diabetes from the stress. My mother got diabetes from the stress. It was all because of this problem."
As news spread through the community, Yasmine knew she faced certain death. With no safe place to go, police placed her into protective custody. And nearly a month later, she was released to her father. But only after he signed a written guarantee that no harm would come to her.
How soon after her release was Yasmine murdered, her brother was asked? "After 15 minutes I shot her," said brother Sirhan Abdulla, adding that he shot her four times in the head.
Abdulla served just six months for killing his sister Yasmine.
CBS
After his sister was raped, Sirhan Abdulla killed her to protect his family's honor.
When asked if that was a fair sentence, Abdulla replied no. "I shouldn't have been in prison for a minute."
Added Abdulla: "If she had stayed alive, everyone in our family would have hung his head in shame."
In 2000, a bill was introduced in the Jordanian parliament that would toughen the punishment for honor crimes. It was soundly defeated.
"You have to put limits to the society," said parliament member Salameh Hiyari, who voted against the bill.
When asked by Troy Roberts if he believes the family values in his country are endangered by Western influences, Hiyari responded, "Yes, I do. We don't want to follow your steps in there."
But while the government does not sanction the practice, honor killers like Sirhan Abdulla still walk free.
And Abdulla said he doesn't think about his sister. "A girl is like a glass plate. Take a glass plate and throw it on the floor and it breaks. Would it be any use anymore or not? A girl is just like that. If she has been violated, she's finished."
** It looks as though we are all still "evolving" ,
and solutions are based in what is the term
used..... awareness raising ?
Not to make excuses for Bill Clinton , nor do i care
too , but it is interesting to think how in some other
countries a Monica Lewinski would have just been
quietly & immediately put to death ...and very doubtfully
any "liberal" press there to report it.
Something to ponder , up in the ivory minaret... |
