When The Truth Is Misleading
Today the BBC and other news outlets are reporting that Syria has amended its dishonor killing law. President Bashar al-Assad, son of the Lion of Damascus, decreed that Article 548 of the Syrian penal code be abolished. Article 548 effectively decriminalized dishonor killings by allowing a maximum sentence of just one year for them.
On the surface, this would seem to be good news.
However, some accounts aren't disclosing that the abolished law was replaced by a new minimum sentencing law of two years. Big whoop. So the price of killing females just went from a maximum of one year to a minimum of two. The new law also covers men who "unintentionally" kill their wives, daughters, sisters, or mothers after catching them committing adultery or having unlawful sex. My first thought upon learning that was, really? "Unintentionally" as in, "Oops. I just happened to chase my oldest daughter around the room with a machete after tying an electrical cord around her neck, dousing her in gasoline, and setting fire to her?" Normally, all this is done without any evidence of illicit sex, so the killer is judge, jury, and executioner. No such thing as due process. The new law also covers cases where the woman's lover is killed. Great. Two for the price of one. You could drive an 18 wheeler through those loopholes.
Further, most news accounts haven't bothered to mention that Syria has two additional penal code articles on its books that offer leniency to dishonor killers. Or that other countries that have attempted to strengthen penalties for dishonor killings without also offering improved enforcement and better social support for the at-risk people have seen a suspiciously large increase in female suicide rates. For example, in Pakistan and Turkey, there are now crimes known as "honor" suicides. The males of the family are forcing the females to kill themselves, so that the former can continue to elude justice. Just when you think it can't get any worse. . .
So, while I'm wanting to applaud the apparent baby step of progress in Syria, I just can't. Two years' punishment for taking the life of an innocent person does not represent a serious attempt at reform. In fact, it's insulting that anyone would think that those of us who are paying attention to these things could be so easily hoodwinked.
About Ellen
Ellen R. Sheeley is the author of Reclaiming Honor in Jordan: A National Public Opinion Survey on "Honor" Killings and a contributor to the anthology Nothing But Red.
In 2003, she journeyed to Jordan, where she learned of the needs for empirical...
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I vacillate between Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" and Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes." I've read both multiple times and relate perhaps too well to...
Wow
Unbelievable.
Believe it, June. :-(
Believe it, June. :-(
Hi Ellen,
I really, really wish that I could say I'm surprised, but I'm so very sad to say that I'm not. Not just with the way the so-called legal system has just moved the goal posts to make it easier to appear as if they have done the right thing in the eyes of the international community, but mainly because this just proves how deeply ingrained these nightmarish, murderous and horrific beliefs run through those societies.
Horrifically, over the years, how many other mass crimes are whitewashed while the blood of innocents is still being washed from the streets? It makes my blood boil just saying the words out loud.
When will it end? How will it end? I wish I had the answers.
I wish I had answers, too,
I wish I had answers, too, Ryoma.
You've totally nailed the motives behind this supposed step forward. It's to make it appear to people who don't know better that progress is being made, that there is the political will to begin to place a value on human life, especially female human life.
At least one other blogger caught it, too, though.
It was easier to get away with these tactics when people and countries were more cut off from each other, but it's a new day.
Many times in the past those
Many times in the past those things would be unknown to the rest of the world, but nowadays, with the Internet, it´s getting harder for governments to lie and to pretend. Either they improve their techniques of deceiving or they´ll have to start telling the truth, for a change. Iran was a good example of what can happen when people can´t take it any longer. It festers.
Either they improve their
Either they improve their techniques of deceiving or they´ll have to start telling the truth, for a change.
I think most of those regimes and their operatives have lied so often and for so long, they no longer know what the truth is, let alone how to tell it.
But there is a third option: using the military and intelligence forces to crack down on the people and further repress them. That is what has been happening in some countries. But, of course, in the end, that isn't a sustainable strategy.
The dark ages
These are societies that still live in the dark ages. It seems that even God can't save them.
Hi, Oswald. I am a little
Hi, Oswald. I am a little more optimistic than that, but I do worry that some societies are moving at a snail's pace (if at all), while others are moving at warp speed. The former will never catch up unless they step it up quite a bit, and that is disastrous for the rest of us.
Changes in law are brought
Changes in law are brought about not by the affected people but by those in power, Ellen, and they need to keep their machinery well-oiled. This often means being regressive, so that 'baby steps' seem like great big bang leaps.
I would be quick to dismiss these as part of religious societies, but similar things happen in secular democracies. Only there is no name to it.
We are not hoodwinked, but will it alter things for those who have to live with it? I wonder why no one asks a law-maker to commit this honour suicide to save his shameful attitude.
~F
PS: Hmm...thanks for the caricature, but I merely reworked yours. And I see you think it went with the title of your post...
Whether intended or not, you
Whether intended or not, you can tell there is desperation behind this incident because, as you note, those in power are the only ones who can change the laws. They know there is pressure to conform to international standards, and they also know they can't really continue doing things the old way. And, so, this is their half-baked response.
Used the caricature because she is sassier than me, Farzana, and I felt like spouting off about the smoke and mirrors behind these legal maneuverings. She is my alter ego. . .kinda like Sasha Fierce is for Beyonce. :-D
Ellen, Until I read this
Ellen,
Until I read this blog, I didn't know what dishonor killing was really about. wow! Thank you and all the others for this. I'm glad I didn't miss this blog.
By the way, I like your alter ego wearing a pair of glasses.
Thanks for your kind
Thanks for your kind comment, Keiko.
The real me wears glasses, too, but only for distance vision.
I like the flower. I'm
I like the flower. I'm guessing Hibiscus.
You got it in one, Mary.
You got it in one, Mary. Couldn't find a black iris.
Happy to see your new
Happy to see your new AVATAR, Ell.
jitu
Farzana created the sassy
Farzana created the sassy me. Looks slightly ninja to me. :-)
How did you know that people close to me call me Elle?
I just like to call you so
I just like to call you so by my heart, if it is ok with you.
It's quite alright, Dr.
It's quite alright, Dr. Jitu.
The small upside
Appalling though it all is, there is the small upside that the regime clearly feels it needs to be seen to do better. So, in a way, it is a sign of progress.
It is unfortunate that there is so much lazy journalism, however.
Hi, Michael. . .thanks for
Hi, Michael. . .thanks for chiming in.
The current ruler of Syria is a British-educated dentist, so he has been exposed to other ways of doing things.