The cries of dreams awaken the demonstrations.. the blood does not become tea

crime returned The Jordanian girl “Ahlam” was killed by her fatherTo the fore once again, feminist demands in Jordan to reconsider the legislation and laws, related to the commission of crimes under the title or definition of “honour crimes”.

Jordanian women, in cooperation and partnership with organizations concerned with defending women and human rights, organized a protest sit-in yesterday, Wednesday, in front of the Jordanian Parliament in the capital, Amman, to demand a review of Article 98 of the Penal Code.

Ahlam cries..her father killed her and drank tea near her body

The demonstrators raised placards that read, “Screams of dreams” and “blood is not tea,” in reference to the killing of “Ahlam” at the hands of her father in the Safout area of ​​Al-Balqa governorate, in a crime that shook the street and Jordanian public opinion, especially after publishing videos of the girl screaming, While her father was drinking tea, he prevented those present from helping her.

The activists also demanded the amendment of articles in the Penal Code that allow the mitigation of the right to violence and murder of women under the heading of “revolution of anger” or what is known as honor crimes.

Activists say that Article 98 of the Jordanian Penal Code came against what many women desire, as the perpetrator of the crime benefits from the “mitigating excuse”, which is included under the so-called “outburst of anger resulting from an unjust and dangerous act by the victim.” Not to mention Article 99 of the same law, which gives the offender reduced sentences in the event that the personal right is forfeited.

"washing shame"

It is noteworthy that most often the person who commits the crime of murder on the pretext of “preserving honor” or what is described in tribal circles as a “disgrace wash” is the man in the same family or one of the relatives, where the perpetrator commits the killing for reasons related to the girl’s committing an act that was considered immoral, such as adultery. Or illegal relationships, or something else
In this context, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Jordan, Laith Nasraween, said in an interview with Al Arabiya.net that the articles of the Jordanian Penal Code do not contain the term “honour crime”, but rather deals with any crime that occurred on human life, stressing that the law Crimes deals with crimes that fall on the female, as well as those that fall on the male.

He explained that honor crimes in their social sense were subject to a major and important amendment in 2001, where the offender benefited if he was surprised by one of his relatives during the commission of the crime of adultery from the “domestic excuse”, but in the amendment it was canceled and replaced with the “mitigating excuse”, meaning that if the offender committed a crime Killing one of his intimates was not punishable, but with the 2001 amendment it became punishable, but with extenuating reasons.

In addition, he pointed out that the amendment expanded the concept of honor killing to include both the female and the male, where the female has the right to benefit from a mitigating excuse, within specific and specific conditions if she surprises her husband in flagrante delicto and kills him

He added: "In 2017, the legislator dealt with the term "outburst of anger", so that no one benefits from it, especially if the crime occurred against a female outside the scope of Article 340, and it is no longer applied except within the limits of Article 340."

As for the sudden case, Nasraween defines it as a sudden state in which the offender feels as a result of witnessing an unjust act, so he loses his focus, awareness and awareness and commits his crime.

"honour killings"

Associations concerned with women’s rights in Jordan are calling on government and parliamentary bodies, civil society institutions, decision makers, clerics and clan elders to intensify efforts to prevent “honor” crimes from being committed, and to ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished.

The official Jordanian statistics do not document the number of crimes committed annually under the pretext of honor, while human rights organizations and activists in defense of the rights of Jordanian women count the occurrence of about 20 crimes annually under the name of defending honor.

The number of family murders against women and girls during 2019 amounted to about 21, an increase of 200% compared to 2018, when 7 family murders of women and girls occurred, according to what was announced by the Association of the Jordanian Women's Solidarity Institute "Solidarity". It is reported that “honour killings” are the result of a pattern of customs

And social traditions that are based on the principle of suspicion and fear of people’s words and concern for reputation without rational support, but take their rulings on the principle of doubt and suspicion, wasting the lives of many and causing panic to others who are still alive.

The Solidarity Institute called for an official response to the crimes of killing women and girls, and ensuring that perpetrators do not go unpunished, through the establishment of a national observatory for cases of killing women and girls, with the need not to accept a pledge from the family in the event of a risk, even low, to the lives of battered women to leave the shelters.

The director of the Solidarity Institute, Munir Edaibis, believes that the return of women and girls to their families after signing a pledge from one or more members of the family to protect them and not expose them to violence, “will not work even if the level of risk to their lives is very low,” calling for expansion in the establishment of shelters for women at risk. at risk.