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Honor Crimes
Murders committed in the name of honor are one of the human rights violations CEWLA works to address. They are a result of the dualism we suffer from the Egyptian society: the condemnation of killing on the one hand and the willingness to justify honor crimes on the other.
CEWLA's main goal is to invite all the intellectuals and concerned people to participate in an open discussion about honor crimes, which causes great suffering for women, not only in Egypt but in many other countries around the world.
CEWLA started its campaign by collecting a number of honor crime judgments from different Egyptian governorates, aiming to show how the court dealt with the offender. Through analyzing these judgments CEWLA was able to demonstrate how social and cultural influences can affect the application of the law and take a step towards raising public awareness of honor crime cases.
Honor crimes covered in the Egyptian press:
CEWLA found 125 newspaper articles about honor crimes with the following incidents:
- A father killing his daughter (16 crimes)
- A brother killing his sister (13 crimes)
- A mother killing her son (5 crimes)
- A son kills his mother with the help of his uncle for getting secretly married to his other uncle
- A father kills his daughter because he suspects her behavior
- A man kills his young wife for going out the house too often
In analyzing the articles, it was clear that the media sensationalized them to attract the attention of the reader, and failed to take a deeper approach to this phenomenon.
Reviewing newspapers like El Ahram, Ahram Mesa'y, Wafd, Sabah El-Kheir, Gomhoreya, Akher Saa, Rose El-Yousef , Esboua and Alkhbar El-Youm, we discover the following:
1) Reasons and motives behind honor crimes:
1. Suspicions of "dishonorable" behavior 79%
2. Discovery of an affair 9%
3. Hiding affairs (killing mistress) 6%
4. Other 6%
We discovered that the main precipitator of honor crimes is suspicion of "dishonorable" behavior. The next most common trigger is discovery of an affair or the confession of the victim herself that she cheated on the offender.
6% of the murders are committed because the murderer was involved in a secret affair and kills his mistress to protect his reputation. Moreover, there have been murders where the father's, brother's or cousin's mistresses were killed (6%).
In other cases mothers get killed for getting married secretly or even wishing to get married. Other incidents involve men who rape their daughters or sisters. When it starts becoming obvious that the woman is pregnant, the rapist kills her so he won't lose his reputation.
2) The criminal's reaction to his suspicions:
1. Killing the victim 90%
2. Attempt to kill the victim 10%
The murderer's reaction to his suspicion towards his wife's/ sister's/ mother's behavior varies from killing her to attempting to kill her. We realize that suspicion by itself could be reason enough to kill.
3) The relation between the victim and the murderer (in the case of killing out of suspicion):
1. Wife 41%
2. Daughter 34%
3. Sister 18%
4. Other relative 7%
As we can see, 41% of all the victims of honor crimes are the wives, followed by the daughters with 34% and the sisters 18%.
Finally, the victims who are other relatives are 7%. We realize that the culture of the society has a strong influence on the murderers who commit honor crimes, especially when the motive is suspicion. In the Egyptian society the father, the brother and even other relatives are pressured to save and guard what some regard as "the honor of the family".
Incidents of honor crimes in the Egyptian press:
killing wife out of suspicion 29%
attempt to kill wife out of suspicion 4%
killing the daughter out of suspicion 24%
attempt to kill daughter out of suspicion 2%
killing the sister out of suspicion 13%
attempt to kill sister out of suspicion 2%
killing one of the relatives out of suspicion 5%
killing the wife after she confesses her betrayal 4%
killing the daughter for illegitimate pregnancy 2%
killing the sister for illegitimate pregnancy 3%
killing the mistress to hide the affair 1%
killing a relative's mistress after discovering the affair 1%
killing a relative's lover (man) after discovering the affair 3%
killing the mother for getting temporarily married or to prevent her from getting married 2%
killing the daughter after being raped by her father especially when the symptoms of pregnancy appear 1%
killing the sister after being raped by her brother especially when the symptoms of pregnancy appear 2%
an employer killing one of the his employees for discovering his affair with his daughter 1%
General Commentary:
The provisions of some laws violate the rights of women and discriminate against them. When men and women commit the same criminal offence the punishment is mitigated for men but made harsh for women.
The important question here is who has the right to judge and to decide who the criminal is and who the victim is in honor crimes.
Religion plays a major role, since it can have an effective and positive influence and educate the people.
Art. 17 of the Penal Law gives the judge the right to mitigate the penalty. Unfortunately, this article is misused in favor of men and discriminates against women especially in honor crime cases. It should be used objectively to achieve justice and equality.
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