Doctor, 4 brothers arrested for murder of sister in 'honor killing'

[barb162]

Doctor, 4 brothers arrested for murder of sister in 'honor killing'
Last update - 13:35 06/04/2006


By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent

A gag order was lifted on Thursday on the arrests of five brothers from Lod who are suspected of murdering their 19-year-old sister in the name of family honor.

The young girl, Rim Abu Ganem, was killed after her brother Suliman, a 33-year-old pediatrician at Assaf Harofeh Hospital, allegedly gave his brothers an anesthetic with which to drug her. According to the suspicions against them, her brothers, whose ages range from 20 to 33, choked her to death after she fell asleep.

Rim's body was found two weeks ago in a well near Rehovot.


Rim had fallen in love a few months earlier with a Palestinian man, despite attempts by her family to betroth her to a resident of Lod. She insisted on maintaining her relationship with the Palestinian man, and ran away from home for a few days.
snip

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/703329.html

[rodeodance]

1. sad, beyond sad

[knitter4democracy]

2. sick.

That's just sick--why must some men feel like they have to control all the women around them?

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[knitter4democracy]

8. If it does, why does it?

Is it a case of someone needing control somewhere in his life and then moving his focus to a less powerful person to control instead? If there is honor killing, does it follow that there's child abuse or animal abuse, too?

I don't know, I'm just asking.

[idontwantaname]

9. but perhaps you thought this took place in the west bank?

im not expert but i thought Lod was in... well...

[barb162]

12. No, I think it happened in Israel with Israeli Arabs

some of the talkbacks in JP and Haaretz mention the names as Arab names. It seems like the cops were doing their jobs. Maybe this woman should have had protective custody? identity change? Maybe she should have left for good? These cases are really shattering and difficult.

[Scurrilous]

10. Yep...

.."the culture allows and/or encourages it."

Thousands of Women Killed for Family "Honor"

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0212_020212_honorkilling.html

<snip>

"undreds, if not thousands, of women are murdered by their families each year in the name of family "honor." It's difficult to get precise numbers on the phenomenon of honor killing; the murders frequently go unreported, the perpetrators unpunished, and the concept of family honor justifies the act in the eyes of some societies.

Most honor killings occur in countries where the concept of women as a vessel of the family reputation predominates, said Marsha Freemen, director of International Women's Rights Action Watch at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Reports submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights show that honor killings have occurred in Bangladesh, Great Britain, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey, and Uganda. In countries not submitting reports to the UN, the practice was condoned under the rule of the fundamentalist Taliban government in Afghanistan, and has been reported in Iraq and Iran."

<snip>

"The practice, she said, "goes across cultures and across religions."

[Violet_Crumble]

15. "The practice goes across cultures and across religions."

Thanks for posting that bit, Scurrilous. I was about to pop in and remind people of that, as some seem very very eager to paint this as being something that only happens in one religion or one culture, though I'm sure that point will be conveniently ignored...

Violet...

[barb162]

16. I think you're interpreting broadly and incorrectly again

I, for one, know this happens in non- Muslim parts of India, for example, and several other countries.

[Violet_Crumble]

17. Not at all...

I saw the deleted post before it was zapped :)

Violet...

[barb162]

18. yeah, well post 11 is still there with Human Rights Watch

as a reference....
:hi:

[Violet_Crumble]

20. Good...

Though I'm sure those who think honour killings only happen when it involves Muslims or Arabs will continue to fixate on it only when it involves Muslims or Arabs. HRW mentioned Brazil. I read something about how a 'crime of passion' was considered an acceptable defence against murder charges, though HRW called it "defense of honor"...

Honour killings wherever they happen and whatever culture they happen in are yet another manifestation of the attitude that women are nothing more than possessions and not of any value in her own right. I saw a documentary last year about Jordan and how the Queen was working hard to try to change attitudes there. She was fighting an uphill battle as at the time it was filmed Jordan only had one women's refuge..

Violence against women is something everyone should have zero tolerance for no matter where it happens and who it happens to...

Violet...

[Phx_Dem]

27. Violence against women

"Violence against women is something everyone should have zero tolerance for no matter where it happens and who it happens to..."

I agree 100% with your stmt.

[barb162]

19. "view of women as property ...is deeply rooted in Islamic culture"

From the article you posted:

"There is nothing in the Koran, the book of basic Islamic teachings, that permits or sanctions honor killings. However, the view of women as property with no rights of their own is deeply rooted in Islamic culture, Tahira Shahid Khan, a professor specializing in women's issues at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan, wrote in Chained to Custom, a review of honor killings published in 1999.

"Women are considered the property of the males in their family irrespective of their class, ethnic, or religious group. The owner of the property has the right to decide its fate. The concept of ownership has turned women into a commodity which can be exchanged, bought and sold."

[barb162]

11. Cultural practices

"...Nonetheless, in many countries, honor crimes are either condoned through government inaction or defended as legitimate cultural practices."
The previous sentence and the quoted material below is from
"Item 12 - Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective: Violence Against Women and "Honor" Crimes"
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2001/04/06/global268.htm

It is quite clear here, in this particular case, the police were aware and concerned so I think we cannot conclude in this case that government inaction is applicable.

In those areas of the world where police / or government take no action, the article follows with"

"As a result, police fail to investigate these crimes and prosecutions are non-existent. In the rare cases where a man in prosecuted, it is the woman's behavior that becomes the focus of the trial, not the culpability of the defendant. In the even rarer case that a man is found guilty, the man's claim that it was a crime committed to restore family honor allows the courts to reduce the sentence."

[Andromeda]

25. This has been going on for hundreds of years

in hardline Islamic countries. Some Muslim women are trying to exercise their rights with a lot of opposition from split governments of secular Muslims and radical Islamic clerics.

In some countries woman can hold jobs and get an education but she may not be allowed to drive a car or vote.

[barb162]

29. Exactly

And it is well-known that crimes of violence against women are very under-reported.

[bemildred]

4. I condemn this. nt

[idontwantaname]

5. yikes.

palestinian as in within the west bank or an arab israeli?

[pelsar]

14. palestenain...

from the west bank.
honor killings exist in israel, i dont have the numbers but it appears to be a few each year, usually amongst the Bedouin and israeli arabs. It is considered murder (no excuses are accepted) and as such go through the usual processes.

Even though many israeli arabs now consider themselves palestenians, its in name only, few if any are willing to give up their israeli citizenship for one in the PA. They understand very well that with all of the problems within israel, be it overt and subtle discrimination, its remains not just a better place to live, but a place they can also change, and have been changing over the years.

[barb162]

30. It will be interesting to follow this when the gag order is lifted

next week. It seems the police really tried hard to stop the possiblility something would happen to this woman.

[kurth]

6. Is this crap sanctioned by Islam?

[idontwantaname]

7. yo.

what are you talking about?

[Andromeda]

24. In many Islamic countries...

it happens. It's usually not officially sanctioned and may be against the law but still happens and often with impunity.

[bemildred]

26. No.

The prophet seems to have had ambiguous attitudes towards women. He had, on the one hand, egalitarian tendencies, and on the other hand, he liked to mess around. But the notion of "family honor", as represented here is not part of Islam, although one might be able to find instances of it in the various schools of Islamic law. I would expect so.

It is more likely related to the tribal and agrarian roots of Middle Eastern culture. It is worth remembering that in most places and most times throughout history, women have been chattel, and that even today in the most "advanced" cultures abuse of women is common. Who has not heard of some fellow blowing his whole family away because his wife was unfaithful or leaving him? Does not the enslavement of women for prostitution flourish in Israel? In the USA?

[barb162]

31. well-stated

And I think prostitution hasn't been wiped out anywhere, as long as there is supply and demand.

[bemildred]

33. Not likely. It's the slavery I object to, in any case.

There are women (and men) who find it easy and congenial work. As long as they are reasonably discreet, and don't offend the public's health, they should be left alone. On the other hand, no one of any condition should be enslaved or treated as property.

[Violet_Crumble]

35. Prostitution...

It's legal in my neck of the woods. And that's the way it should stay...

Violet...

[Name removed]

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[Violet_Crumble]

21. I've been wondering the same thing...

n/t

[Andromeda]

22. I appreciate the fact that Barb....

shared this article with us, don't you? Unless, of course, you actually agree with this barbaric custom of honor killing?

And what difference would it make if Barb knew any Palestinian women who live in Israel or anywhere else? It still would not mitigate the seriousness of this senseless act.

[Violet_Crumble]

23. Oh, I'm sure you do...

And seeing as how I already posted that I wondered the same thing as Tom, could you explain why yr doing the 'unless, of course, you actually agree with this barbaric custom of honor killing?' routine? If you take the time to actually read the thread, you'll see I've expressed my total opposition to violence against women. As I wondered the same thing as Tom, do you just maybe think that wondering it doesn't mean that either of us agree with honour killing?

Violet...

[Coastie for Truth]

28. Your point

Lots of people selectively post articles that have a very partisan (and sometimes only partially factual) POV. I guess it goes back to the days of Mario Savio in Sproull Plaza.

PS - I know Palestinian women who live in Israel and Los Angeles, and I know Islamic people who live in Santa Clara County and Alameda County, and work at such places as Cisco, IBM, Cadence, Intel, nVidia, Chrysler, and Ford. And I contribute to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Israeli Red Magen David Society.

[barb162]

32. Why do you ask who I know personally either in the Mideast

or US? It doesn't seem germane.

[Name removed]

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