HONOR CRIMES IN JORDAN ON THE AGENDA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 006027

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2013
TAGS: PHUM SOCI KWMN PREL KMPI JO
SUBJECT: HONOR CRIMES IN JORDAN ON THE AGENDA

Classified By: CDA David M. Hale for 1.5 (b)(d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) Press reports have highlighted recent "honor
killings," the reduction of a stiff sentence against one
perpetrator, and the rejection by the Lower House of the
Jordanian Parliament of amendments to the "honor crimes law."
However, honor crimes are both a complex issue and a
deeply-rooted practice that are being addressed in both the
political and the societal realms. Given the broad
acceptance of the principle in some instances of honor crimes
-- including ostensibly by many women -- ending the practice
will require not only legal changes, but cultural ones as
well. END SUMMARY.

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A DOUBLE AX MURDER DRAWS WORLD ATTENTION
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2. (U) Honor crimes, the killing to preserve family honor
of female relatives who have allegedly engaged in "immoral
acts," have garnered attention inside and outside Jordan in
recent weeks. In a story that made international headlines
and led to a September 12 Department condemnation, on
September 8 three brothers allegedly attacked their two
sisters with an ax, hacking both to death. According to
press reports, the older victim, age 27, left home to marry
without her family's consent two years previously and lived
with her husband and infant son. The younger victim, age 20,
moved into her sister's apartment a few months before the
killings. After being informed of their sisters,
whereabouts, the brothers confessed to authorities that they
acted to "cleanse the family's honor," according to the
press. According to women's activists and press reports,
these deaths brought the total number of honor killings in
Jordan to 12 for the year.


3. (U) In many ways more disturbing, on September 11 a
lower court released a man convicted last year of killing his
sister in a 2001 crime of honor. The same court had
originally sentenced the man to ten years in prison, but, on
appeal, the Court of Cassation instructed the lower court to
consider a punishment "more fitting the nature of the crime."
As he was drunk at the time of the killing and the victim
had made &harsh and vulgar statements to her brother,8 the
Court of Cassation found that &the crime did not fall under
the premeditated murder charge category.8 The lower court
then sentenced the man to six months and released him
immediately since he had already spent ten months in custody.

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TWO CONTROVERSIAL AND MISUNDERSTOOD LAWS
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4. (U) Article 340 of the Penal Code, dubbed the &honor
crime law,8 exempts from penalty men who kill female
relatives they discover in the act of extramarital sexual
relations. The government promulgated a temporary law in
December 2001 which amended the code by a) more closely
defining the circumstances under which a man could benefit
from the law, and b) providing equal protection to women.
The media, reflecting the general lack of understanding of
the law, have published a number of misleading or factually
incorrect articles. Examples include that the temporary law
abolished Article 340 or that amendments to Article 340 are
inaccurately called "honor crime legislation."


5. (SBU) Despite the debate over Article 340, this section
(and even the temporary law that amends it) are of limited
applicability since they require the perpetrator to discover
the victim in the act -- a rare occurrence. Activists tell
us that this provision has only been applied twice in
Jordan's history and once in the last 40 years. However,
Article 98 -- which permits judges to reduce sentences based
on certain defined extenuating circumstances -- is frequently
used to reduce the sentences of convicted murderers in honor
crimes cases. It also precludes killers from being convicted
of premeditated murder, with the resultant maximum penalty of
death, if they are found by a court to have acted in a "fit
of fury," similar to a temporary insanity defense. Further,
families of the victims (usually also the family of the
perpetrator) often do not file murder charges, either because
they agree that the victim had hurt the family's honor, or
because the male perpetrator is a chief economic provider for
the family. Without charges from the family of the victim,
potential penalties are further reduced.

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PARLIAMENT SPLIT ON REPEALING HONOR CRIME LAW
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6. (C) The temporary law amending Article 340, promulgated
by the GOJ with the encouragement of the Hashemite Family,
was brought before Parliament in August for ratification. It
was quickly dismissed by a large majority of the Lower House
and sent to the appointed, more pro-government and more
malleable Senate. After some minor changes, the Senate
approved the amendments and returned the law to the Lower
House, which rejected it a second time on September 7 by a
vote of 50 to 39. Under the constitution, if the Senate
passes the temporary law for a second time, the two houses
must meet in conference to resolve the issue. The temporary
law remains in force until the full Parliament takes final
action on it. Senate President Raid Rifai insinuated to
visiting U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee several weeks ago that,
if the Lower House rejected the law a second time, the
temporary law might get lost in his in-box and not be
considered again by the Senate, assuring that it would remain
indefinitely on the books as a "temporary law."

7. (C) While some of the deputies voting against the
temporary law have serious objections to it, there were also
procedural reasons for the lower house's rejection (a cause
for criticism of the Prime Minister by, among others, the
King, who told us he had assumed wrongly that the government
had lined up the votes needed for passage). According to
female deputy Nariman Roussan (Irbid),the deputies were not
given sufficient time to study the law before it was brought
to a vote in early August, nor were they given notice of
which temporary laws would be discussed first. Without a
clear understanding of the law, many deputies apparently
chose to vote with the opposition. At least two other
temporary laws on emotionally-charged issues -- the ability
of women to sue for divorce and raising the age for marriage
to 18 from 15 for women and 16 for men -- were also rejected
at the same time. Another commonly-heard explanation for the
vote is that many deputies oppose in principle adoption of
the more than 200 temporary laws promulgated in their
absence, and expressed their displeasure with the two-year
absence of parliament by rejecting a law that they felt had
little public support.


8. (U) As has been reported in past Human Rights Reports,
honor crimes are not a new phenomenon and are not restricted
to a particular religion. The reported number has fluctuated
between 14 and 21 annually since 2000, though activists
believe many more go unreported. Human Rights Watch
estimates that 25-30 women are victims each year. One
measure the GOJ has undertaken to shield potential victims is
to place them in protective custody, i.e. to put them in
women's prisons where their families will not have access to
them. In recent years, the estimated number of women in such
custody has ranged from 25 to 40.


9. (C) According to Rana Husseini, a reporter for the
Jordan Times and activist on honor crimes issues, extensive
press coverage of this previously taboo subject began only in
1994 in the Jordan Times. While the crimes are now widely
reported in the more influential Arabic papers, articles
typically do not mention the victims, or perpetrators,
names and rarely follow a story through from commission of
the crime to final verdict. From Husseini's perspective,
these papers "fail to do adequate reporting about the crime
itself and court verdicts. They do tackle the issue from a
social but shy perspective."


10. (C) Disclosure of extramarital sexual relations is a
source of extreme shame within the culture, particularly
among relatives of involved females, and the act itself is
regarded as reprehensible. Combined with the societal focus
on the centrality of families and the importance of
maintaining a good reputation, these factors result in broad
acceptance of the principle behind Article 340 by Jordanians,
including many women. MP Roussan, who voted against the
temporary law the first time (and missed the second vote),
stated that, while she does not support honor killings based
merely on rumor or suspicion, she would support lighter
punishment for those who kill women caught in the act, if
they do it in the "heat of the moment." "If I caught my own
daughter in bed with a man, I might become so angry I would
kill her myself," she stated as she explained the extreme
shame such an act would bring upon her and other family
members.


11. (C) Women's groups recognize the deeply ingrained and
widespread acceptance of the practice, and appear to be
trying to work within the system to encourage change.
However, they acknowledge that it will take time. According
to Amal Sabbagh, Secretary General of the Jordanian National
Commission for Women, this is why the Commission's awareness
campaign on honor crimes is now focused on the general
public, as opposed to pushing for legislative changes through
the Parliament. She stressed that strong U.S. condemnation,
while appreciated, actually hurts the cause of battling honor
crimes since it is perceived by many in Jordan as ethical or
cultural imperialism imposed by the West. She noted that
many Jordanians were surprised by the recent U.S. statement
about the killing of the two sisters, which was widely
reported on in Jordanian papers.

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COMMENT
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12. (U) The repeal of Article 340 by the Parliament would
be a significant moral victory for the Hashemite Family,
government, and anti-honor crime activists, but would have
little impact on the sentencing of honor criminals. Prime
Minister Abul Ragheb suggested to the Ambassador last year
that a more effective and less controversial remedy would be
to place a minimum sentence of 5-7 years on all murder
convictions. With the assurance of a significant amount of
prison time, perpetrators might think twice before committing
such crimes. As women's activists here argue, however, honor
crimes will not be eliminated until societal attitudes evolve
HALE