In a country that boasts being a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, a recent decision made by a Syrian court was made in direct violation of the Syrian constitution, which guarantees the right to live to all citizens, male or female, and therefore undermining the position of women, and honour killings in Syrian society.
A Syrian judge acquitted a young man who killed his sister. Due to the fact that the murder was motivated by honour (because the brother argues that his sister fled with her lover), his sentence has reduced. However, he had already spent some time in custody- which counted towards his punishment. Therefore he was free to walk the streets straight away. This is irrespective of the fact that the murder was premeditated- as the brother had bought a razor to kill his sister before travelling to Damascus to commit the crime.
No justice has been brought to the sister- whose killer is now able to walk the streets of Damascus. This is due to an oversight by the judges who gave more merit to the argument of a motivation of honour killings than the cold hard facts of the case.
1 comment:
Really sad Joanna - I had no idea Syrian justice was so shoddy
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