Syrian President Mr. Bashar al-Assad issued today an announcement provides a legislative amendment to the Article number 548 of the Syrian Penal Code which gives justifications to murders against women in the name of honour.
Text of the decree:
“Issued by President Bashar al-Assad today, Legislative Decree No. (37)- 2009 to abolish the article / 548 / of the Penal Code and replace it with another text of the decree is as follows:
Syrian Arab Republic Legislative Decree No. (37) President of the Republic Based on the provisions of the Constitution Draw the following: Article 1 - delete the article (548) of the Penal Code and replace it with the following:” He who catches his wife or one of his ascendants, descendants or sister committing adultery or illegitimate sexual acts with another and he killed or injured one or both of them benefits from an mitigating of penalty that has a minimum sentence of two years imprisonment for murder."
The old text of Article 548 stated that:
"He who catches his wife or one of his ascendants, descendants or sister committing adultery or illegitimate sexual acts with another and he killed or injured one or both of them benefits from an exemption of penalty."
This isn't a detailed information about the "new" article, I am not writing to spread the news, I am writing to state what I have to say about it, the shame and the disapointment ...
Not much of a change…! Murders committed against women in the name of “honor” are still considered less of an offensive act, are still excused, and are still JUSTIFIED.
"DisHonor" crimes justification laws must be abolished, with no replacement. Not only for the sake of justice, not for the sake of revenge, but for the sake of reduction.
I am not happy, not even slightly relieved. I feel more bitter. at least the article 548 was put tens of years ago. the modified version is issued today and it still justifies killing and it still says that any Syrian girl is a less- human and a less-citizen and a possible future victim of a murder by the blessing of laws!
Who am I?
- Dania
- Damascus, Syria
- Lost and Found, every day and every secound... Thats all I know, if you know more then let me know so I know that some one knows, you know.
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6 comments:
Great post Dania, the least to say we feel more bitter, long way to civilization....
Ranwa
Thank you m’am for telling the facts, I can see a lot out there calling this amendment a victory or partial victory, I feel sorry for them. I hope for a time when people know the difference between 2 years and 15 years to stop the blood shed of Females. Anyone out there thinks of them as Humans, Sisters, Mothers, and Lovers or let the crimes against killing women continue in the name of HONOR.
Dania,
Thank you for posting this. It sickens me that this is all the President could do and this should be considered progress. The two year penalty for murder is like a slap on the wrist.
While the penalty seems trivial towards the crime comitted, we should also consider the original crime of destroying a family. We still live in a conservative society that's governed by old values and practices. This is not an easy subject to tackle. I can certainly say that noone can correct a crime with an uglier crime. There should be some kind of law for infidelity. Let the law take care of it, and don't let people be the judge and the excutioner.
Dear Dania,
I am new in this world of blogs. I am a PhD research student on Syrian society and in particular on the different forms of female Syrian activism for women's rights.
First of all I must say that, to me, your post helps other women to re-focus on Honor Crime reality and on the need for a more egalitarian legislation; moreover I would like to know if you think that we could maybe consider this emendament as a first step towards a certain respect of Women's rights and finally I would like to know if you consider this as a success, even if relatively poor, of the syrian feminist organizations.
Thanks
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