US embassy cable - 03AMMAN6027

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