Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Legal Ruling on an Honor Killing in Jordan

Here is a great post from Jordan where honor killings happen on a regular basis. Read the whole thing please, but note specifically the section that contains the court's opinion and verdict on why this murderer only got a slap on the hand:

“It is obvious that the defendant did not plot the murder and his actions came immediately after reading his sister’s confessions,” the court said, noting that the defendant benefits from a reduction in penalty because his sister was involved in extramarital affairs in return for money, which led to her divorce and “brought her family shame and disgrace”.


“Her actions hurt her parents, brothers and unmarried sisters’ honour and reputation and are considered by the court as dangerous and unlawful, especially to the defendant, since in our customs and traditions a man is valued by his sister’s behaviour and honour among his community
,” the court ruled.

2 comments:

Odysseus said...

I am, obviously, appalled by this, but I think, as a Westerner, I have to remove the timber from my own eye first. My culture murders over a million infants every year. That is far worse than an honor killing.

Don said...

This sort of reminds me of something Pascal has his Jesuit talk about in the Provincial Letters, where he allows killing someone in a duel to preserve one's honour.