Honor crimes are taken as the most severe type of “honor-based crimes” that refer to a broad range of crimes, which are practiced in diverse cultures and societies across the world (Bettiga-Boukerbout, 2005, pp. 230). Honor-based crimes differ amongst diverse societies and include honor killings. In the media reports, honor killings are frequently regarded to as the most barbaric plus atrocious acts that violate the basic rights of women (Meeto &Mizra, 2007, pp. 57). Because of their prevalence and harshness in different societies, honor crimes are the most perceptible form of honor-based crimes. Nowadays, deliberations regarding honor killings are more and more noticeable in the mainstream media. Nonetheless, one should consider that several honor crimes go unobserved and are never recorded. In some countries, honor crimes, especially honor killings are still considered tolerable along with justifiable and executors are barred from any form of punishment. In addition, in countries like Jordan, the law has flaws where the executors are basically excused (Amir, 2015, pp. 17). The latter are held responsible to have brought shame on the family through declining to join a prearranged marriage, becoming casualty of a sexual violence, and contemplating divorce or alleged to have committed infidelity (Cohan, 2010, pp. 178).
The conception of honor crimes comprises of all kinds of aggression on persons in the name of honor. Honor crimes means that a casualty has availed the crimes on their self through defaming their honor, as well as that of their relatives. Thus, it is an act, which focuses at taking away the tarnish of honor via the utilization of social or expressive compulsion on an individual whose acts have resulted in dishonor (Wasti, 2010, pp. 362). The physical compulsion can even entail the murder of the victim of the rules of honor. Honor killing is described as the murder of females for alleged divergence from sexual customs that are enforced by the community (Gill, 2011, pp. 23). The executors are not only the male spouses of the victim, except other men family or community members may execute the act of killing. Human Rights Watch describes honor murder as an action of vengeance that is executed by normally male associates and relatives against normally women (Human Rights Watch, 2004, pp. 1).
There are around 5,000 honor killings that constitute honor-based crimes in the world on annual basis, where experts estimate that the actual number of honor crimes would be much elevated. These honor crimes have recorded largely in Europe, Asia plus North America where the prevalence of these crimes are much higher. Nevertheless, honor crimes are most widespread in regions throughout the South Asia and the Middle East. In addition, India and Pakistan has recorded 1,000 honor murders yearly (Human Rights Watch, 2004, pp. 1). In Afghanistan, over 50 women were killed for honor crimes during the summer of 2012 (Payton, 2011, pp. 13).
At the moment, there is no specific law that deals with honor crimes in many states around the world (Wasti, 2010, pp. 361). The murders come under the general categories of manslaughter or homicide. In some states honor killings are still considered tolerable, as well as justifiable and perpetrators are excluded from any kind of punishment. For instance, in Jordan and Iraq, honor crimes or killing are in separate legal category-murders profit lighter sentencing for honor crimes, while in Pakistan, tribal court can order honor-based crimes in cases of family disputes (Meetoo & Mirza, 2007, pp. 59). In Jordan, Article 430 safeguards males who murder their spouses for committing adultery, while in Iraq, the legal system is founded on Sharia law, where under Iranian Penal Code Article 630; a male companion is allowed to kill the wife with no penalty with suspicion of committing adultery (Payton, 2011, pp. 15). However, honor crimes are acknowledged as a type of aggression against women in international human rights laws. The international law obliges nations to safeguard women from gender-based hostility, comprising by family members plus exclude “honor” as a lawful defense for actions of aggression against women (Mitchel, 2011, pp. 39). Honor crimes violate the provisions of the International Convention of Human Rights (1948) (Human Rights Watch, 2004, pp. 1).
Because violence in the pretext of honor has become a worldwide challenge, many authors tackle it in a literary form in hope of finding remedies. No one can deny that the first step to solve a problem is to determine the problem itself. Literature has undertaken a more comprehensive role of echoing troubles in order for humans to contemplate them and do their best to elucidate them Can & Edime, pp. 737 and Critelli & Willet, 2012, pp. 202). Accordingly, many authors depict honor crimes in their novels in order to stimulate people to overcome the savagery of such crimes. In fact, these novels bequeath an understanding and empathy in the reader. Some of these novels are: Love Like Blood by Mark Billingham, Burned Alive by Souad, Unto the Daughters by Karen Tintori, Forbidden Love by Norma Khouri, and The Cry of the Dove by Fadia Faqir.
Billingham in his novel highlight honor killings as one of the honor crimes. The author explores honor killings in the name of pride founded on the true story it unsettles as it unravel a culture of brutal misogyny. The woman left the man and he was in love with another man and his father and uncle believed that she had violated the honor code and she deserved to die for offending against the honor code and thus, bring shame on the men folk (Martin, 2017, pp. 1).
Banaz had triggered the anger of her relatives by abandoning the male Banaz had been forced to marry and having a new love affair with an Iranian man. The couple ” knew the trouble they were going to get in but they couldn’t be without one another so they would meet secretly.” Martin, 2017, pp. 1). Banaz is induced by her uncle where she is tormented, raped, and stifled and her body is dumped in a suitcase. “They had anally raped Banaz, she was vomiting she was so afraid”. In this instance, they had covered the cord 3 times on her neck so tightly that it cut her flesh and she said that she had her feet on the back that pulled the tied cord (Martin, 2017, pp. 1)
The honor crimes in the novel are essentially because of cultural reason since because the society bases their punishment on honor codes that are permitted by the culture that the society has created. The society through culture believes that women should be married outside the prearranged marriage because it brings shame to the society. In the novel, husbands that abuse their wives sexually and emotionally are not punished because the honor codes that are in the society cushions them from such punishment. The killing her is classically honor killing as prescribed by the society code of honor. The feminists have endeavored to fight honor crime due to cultural norms by claiming that it undermines the freedom and dignity of women in the society (Cohan, 2010, pp. 178).
The book “Burned Alive” by Souad is a real life story regarding honor crimes where Souad was burned alive because she was believed to have brought shame to the society. The book narrates a journey of an honor crime survivor who escapes to Europe and publishes her story. The traumatic tale is one, which narrates how she Souad survived an honor crime undertaken by her brother-in law, who burned her for her sexual affair with her next-door neighbor, as well as subsequent pregnancy (Souad & Cuny, 2005, pp. 4). His brother in-law was the tasked to carry out the honor killings where he “he poured gasoline over her and set her on fire” in an effort to kill Souad (Souad & Cuny, 2005, pp. 6). During this time, Souad was only seventeen years old residing in West Bank villages. Harshly burned, Souad was abandoned and left to die, until Jacqueline Thibault, the European aid employee arranged for their transportation to Switzerland (Taylor, 2006, pp. 1). Using clearlysimple language, she portrays a childhood of factualenslavement, in which she was uneducated, oblivious of anything beyond the boundaries of the village, working “”harder than a beast of burden and battered daily. Brutality and hitting are too a widespread practice in her village. Souad says: “My father would shout, ‘Why have the sheep come back by themselves?’ then pull me by the hair and drag me into the kitchen to hit me. Souad said that she was tied together with her sister, Kainat” and scarf was used to cover their mouths to prevent them from screaming. The two said that they remained the whole night while tied in the gate (Souad & Cuny, 2005, pp. 11).
Beating women is not an honorable act, but amounts to torture of women that do not deserve such punishment. Religions like Islam and Muslim do not allow women to be beaten that is stated in Koran 4:34 (Gleeson, 2018, pp. 1). The man who had an affair with Soaud was not punished because the honor does not prescribe the male to be punished but the women. The affair Soaud sought from another man was because the family had no respect, love and care for Soaud and decided to seek elsewhere and this implies that the family should have been the one punished by the society. Therefore, the reason for punishing honor crimes in this society was purely cultural. In this community, sex before marriage was taken to be a grave dishonor to one’s family and it was punishable by death. The society believed that the act of sexual affair and the pregnancy brought dishonor or shame to the society and family and she deserved to be killed (Taylor, 2006, pp. 1).
The novel highlights a case of honor crime of a young woman that is punishable by death. Salma as the protagonist is believed to have committed a crime that was punished by death in her Bedouin tribe of Hima, Levant: Salma had sex out of marriage plus became expectant by lover, Hamdam, who rebuts her (Faqir, 2007, pp. 6). Under the threat of honor killings at the hands of his family along with the tribe, Salma is placed in protective custody, in which her newborn, Layla, is taken care of; she then escapes, with her family trailing her ((Faqir, 2007, pp. 8). The figure of her brother, Mahmoud, coming to “”shoot her between the eyes” was evident in the novel (Faqir, 2007, pp. 9).then she tells him that she is pregnant he denies all responsibilities and replies in an expected and awful chauvinistic manner. While Mahmoud ultimately looked up, he saw a different person, where his eyes were brown burning with annoyance other than aspiration. Thus, Mahmoud lastly was able to clear the voice and claimed that “You are responsible. You have seduced me with the yearning tunes of your pipe and swaying hips”. He further claimed that while raising his arm that he was about to be hurted…”I’ve never laid a finger on you, never seen you before, do you understand?” he declared (Faqir, 2007, pp. 11)
This is a typical case of honor killings that many societies in the world grapple with, where the main reason was cultural one. Women are the most targeted by these honor crimes by male, especially in patriarchal societies where men have more powers and women are seen as objects. Ignorance plays a role in honor crimes because the society has ignored the dignity and the need to respect and use honor codes to punish women who do not deserve such punishment. The lack of love has made women to seek love elsewhere and this makes them preys of men in the society. It was not fair to punish Salma and leave Hamdan yet they committed the same crimes, but because honor crimes exclude men from such crimes, he was not punished (Yavuz, 2010, pp. 1).
Norman Khouri in his book “Forbidden Love” addresses the plight of honor crimes, specifically honor killings among the women in Jordan. Honor crimes is the majority of the Arab nations and Muslim communities is the act of cleaning the family’s honor; when a virgin girl brings shame or dishonor to her family by having an illegal relationship with a boy, where “ a woman is murdered by her father due to an illicit love affair…” (Fickling, 2004, pp. 1). This is a feminist novel that narrates challenges faced by Arab women in the hands of the society that treats them as subordinates because of inequality in the society. Dalia violated honor of the society by having relationship with a Christian man-Michael (Fickling, 2004, pp. 1).
The honor crime in the novel is basically religious since it involves a Muslim with non-Muslim marrying each other and the religion do not permit such. However, Islam does not really prohibit the marriage linking a Muslim female with a non-Muslim male if the Christian man confesses his Islam. Islam does not easily allow the killing of a sinful woman easily but it puts conditions for that such as for witnesses and other conditions. The man is permitted to be married to a Christian female and converted to this new religion considered by the Islamic schools as “People of the Book”. Many women in Muslim countries are considered to die at the hands of family members and relative annually for perceived violations of honor. In the novel, a woman is murdered by her father due to an illicit love affair…” that was considered an honor crime (Bettiga-Boukerbout, 2005, pp. 236).
The “Unto the Daughters” is a story of a woman grappling with violent, patriarchal history of the family. Like other feminists authors, the novel narrates a story regarding the murder of Aunt Francis who was murdered two years ago. The women and the family of Karen were suffering the domination of patriarchy. Tintori explains a specifically violent episode back in Sicily where angry that his sisters were playing outside the house with newborn puppies and not attending to the needs of the males (Giulia, 2017, pp. 1).
Frances whilst 16 years was in love with a youthful barber. Frances’ father needed her to get married to an old professor in vicinity Mafia, which is a matrimony, which could give her son a boost in the multitude. However, Frances vanished with the barber plus when she came back home being a woman with a husband, her fate was sealed. Therefore, she eloped thus bringing dishonor to the family and was perhaps killed (fettered, dismembered, as well as thrown in the water of Belle Isle) by his own brothers when she decided to come back. Thus, even after eighty and two generations, she was not spoken of where her memory was concealed.
The deal with the Mafia was meant to boost status and money because the marriage to Mafia meant more money and status in the society. According to the society that Frances lived, marrying a woman for the sake of status and money was acceptable as honorable. Throwing a woman into water is not an honorable thing, but based on the honor codes of the society, it was a honorable thing. The society perceived that Frances had committed honor crimes and that she deserved to be killed even after getting married. In the novel, the family killed Frances because she committed honor crime because she refused to be married Mafia family that could have brought money to the family that made the crime be financial rather than religious or cultural honor crime (Tintori, 2015, pp. 21).
Conclusions
The honor crimes, particularly the honor killings have been at center of discussion among many authors around the world because of their growing nature. Honor crimes have been under criticism from the media and feminism activists around the world because women and girls are the most affected where male families members and relatives execute these killings. Many women, especially in Muslim communities are murdered by males because the crimes are alleged to have resulted in shame to the males and the society. In some societies, such as Jordan, honor killings are permissible and allowed there is not specific law to address this issue. In fact, in Jordan, honor crimes receive less sentencing as compared to other forms of murders (Brandon & Hafez, 2015, pp. 47).
In addition, it is apparent from the novels analyzed above that honor crimes have been a serious issues that affects women and girls. In these novels, it was clear that women are the most affected and the killings reported are executed by males, especially brothers, uncles and fathers of the women or the girls. In many instances, the men believe that the pregnancy and sex outside marriage amounts to violation of the honor and this brings shame to the men folk and the society at large, where these crimes are punishable by death (Kiener, 2011, pp. 185). Many women in the novel fled to other locations and overseas to seek refuge from killed because of the honor crimes.
References
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