This is a follow-up to a post I put up October 12 with the title The Atrocity continues. In that instance, a man got six months of jail for butchering his sister. Yesterday, another man that murdered his sister left prison a free man after only 15 months. Of course in both cases the reduced sentences were a direct result of twisted logic found in the Jordanian Penal Code! Akh bas Akh!
I do not want to keep repeating myself, publishing the same rant that I wrote last month. All I want to say is that these atrocities are occurring while the government is embracing the path of reform. And you wonder why I’m skeptical!
With all due respect, reform can never happen in Jordan when human life — particularly that of women — is so damn cheap. I’m not going to say anything else. I will just leave you with two related posts from fellow Jordanian bloggers. The first is from Nas and the second, Rami.
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(Dis)Honor Killings in Jordan Continue
Jordanian blogger Natasha Tynes calls her blog Mental Mayhem and often uses it as a forum to expose the on-going problem of Jordanian officials’ failure to condemn honor killings. Her recent post highlights yet another instance of a court setting free …
‘Positive’ or ‘legitimate’ shame should be placed upon someone who has truly committed a crime. In Jordan, since everyone ‘knows’ you shouldn’t have sex with your sister or give your toddler a black eye, exposing the crime of it in billboards or newspapers and even talking about it acts as a deterrent to crime.
When a bloodied wife goes to police to report abuse, the husband’s shameful act is exposed and he is then on record as an abuser. The husband fears the police (whoa, especially at 7th circle police station). It works here in a way it doesn’t work in the West, as the man’s behaviour reflects on the whole tribe.
‘Negative’ or ‘illegitimate’ shame is that which is placed on a woman by the woman who is abused.
What’s positive shame? Glad to know they’re doing something.
Hamako, there are MANY initiatives going on for abuse prevention in Jordan at this time. It is exciting to see. They are using ‘positive shame’ to provoke change, bringing these atrocities to light.
It baffles me that we actually need ‘articles’ and ammendments to stop this sort of thing.
ya3ni, does the would-be murderer, on his way to the slaughter scene stop and say ‘daaaaamn article 340 is such a bummer’? If that’s the case, and if that’s the only way the atrocities could be prevented, then there’s something fundamentally wrong with our society/education/moral fibre.
Perhaps dealing with this issue from the other end is an apprach that our government ought to consider; i.e preventative rather than penal, unless you are convinced that one leads to the other.
Natasha,
I think our government should for once start using its temporary-law-making powers for something good and they should ammend articles 98 and 340 of the penal code so that article 340 only applies to spouses, therefore excluding siblings, cousins, parents and children from penalty reduction, and that article 98 only applies if the victim and the killer are not related.
I think these two ammendments are unfortunately the only way we’re ever gonna see these two articles eventually completely removed.