[GOTFIVEONIT]

Top Lebanese cleric stands up against honor killings


Saturday, 04 August 2007

Lebanon, August 04: Although Human Rights Watch defines honor killing as acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family, it is still met with minimal punishment in some Middle Eastern courts.

But this week, a top Lebanese Shia cleric decided to stand up against honor killings and issued a religious edict “fatwa” banning such crimes, calling the custom of murdering a female relative for sexual misconduct "a repulsive act”, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Grand Ayatollah Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah’s decision was a result of the rise of honor killing cases in the Middle East. “I view an honor crime as a repulsive act condemned and prohibited by religion," Sheikh Fadlallah, the most revered religious authority for Lebanon's 1.2 million Shias, said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.

“In so-called honor crimes, some men kill their daughters, sisters, wives or female relatives on the pretext that they committed acts that harm chastity and honor," said Sheikh Fadlallah, warning that the practice was on the rise in region and that "these crimes are committed without any religious evidence, and mostly on the basis of suspicions”.

Honor crimes are widely spread in the Middle East; however, Islam has nothing to do with it as it’s forbidden under the holy religion. There are usually no statistical figures regarding the number of such crimes, and the reason is probably the fact that it’s rarely reported.

But Sheikh Fadlallah said “Honor crimes have been reported recently mainly in Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon… Some Arab governments have kept silent on such crimes because they did not want to anger tribal leaders in their countries."

Jordan is reported to be the country with the most number of honor killing cases, where it’s estimated that 20 women are killed every year by their male relatives. Calls by international rights organizations to reduce such crimes fell on deaf ears by Jordanian courts that insist to treat such cases with ease and minimum punishment.

In February 2007, a verdict was handed down in a similar case where a 19-year-old Jordanian university student killed his divorced 22-year-old sister over rumors she had a lover. The student received just a three-month jail sentence since he was cleared for misdemeanor because he acted in a fit of rage.

According to the International Herald Tribune, attempts to introduce harsher sentences for honor killings have been blocked in Jordan's parliament, where the predominantly conservative Bedouin lawmakers argue that lesser penalties would increase toleration for promiscuity.

Despite the reported increase in honor killings, many human rights’ groups and religious authorities in the Middle East condemn such crimes. Islam was never a brutal religion and there is no verse in the Holy Quran that allows any human being to apply the death sentence on another human being. -Agencies





The Siasat Daily, 2004. .
Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Abids, Hyderabad - 500001, AP, India
Tel: +91-40-24744180, Fax: +91-40-24603188
contact@siasat.com