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Speechless

So there are hate crimes and 'honor' crimes. I don't even know what to make of this except that it's extremely unsettling. I'm not a big fan of killing the victim while the brothers only go to jail. I guess they still have future careers as suicide bombers.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001793273_honorkilling17.html

quote:

Mother kills raped daughter to restore 'honor' By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson Knight Ridder Newspapers ABU QASH, West Bank � Raped by her brothers and impregnated, Rofayda Qaoud refused to commit suicide, her mother recalls, even after she bought the 17-year-old a razor with which to slit her wrists. So Amira Abu Hanhan Qaoud says she did what she believes any good Palestinian parent would: restored her family's "honor" through murder. Armed with a plastic bag, razor and wooden stick, Qaoud entered her sleeping daughter's room last Jan. 27. "Tonight you die, Rofayda," she told the girl, before wrapping the bag tightly around her head. Next, Qaoud sliced Rofayda's wrists, ignoring her muffled pleas of "No, mother, no!" After her daughter went limp, Qaoud struck her in the head with the stick. Killing her sixth-born child took 20 minutes, Qaoud tells a visitor through a stream of tears and cigarettes that she smokes in rapid succession. "She killed me before I killed her," says the 43-year-old mother of nine. "I had to protect my children. This is the only way I could protect my family's honor." The guilty brothers are in jail. Qaoud's confessed crime, for which she must appear before a three-judge panel Dec. 3, is one repeated almost weekly among Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel. Female virtue and virginity define a family's reputation in Arab cultures, so it's women who are punished if that reputation is perceived as sullied. Victims' rights groups say the number of "honor crimes" appears to be climbing, but at the same time, getting little attention. Israelis and Palestinians are too busy with political and military issues to notice what they dismiss as domestic disputes, says Suad Abu-Dayyeh, who works for the Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling in East Jerusalem. Poverty and war have exacerbated the problem, says Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a social work and criminology professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an expert on violence against women. "Men do not have any power except over women," she says. Palestinian police reported 31 cases in 2002, up from five during the first half of 1999, according to the center's study. Police in Israel investigated at least 18 honor killings in the past three years. But the number of killings is likely higher, given that Palestinian police investigate only crimes that have been reported, said Yousef Tarifi, the Ramallah prosecutor assigned to Qaoud's case. Shalhoub-Kevorkian says her research showed the likely number to be 15 times higher than the number of reported cases. Qaoud says her husband, Abdul Rahim, 52, told her the Quran forbade such killings. But neither his pleas nor those of Palestinian crisis counselors swayed her. According to court records, Rofayda was raped by her brothers, Fahdi, 22, and Ali, 20, in a bedroom they shared in the family's three-room house. On Nov. 26, 2002, doctors at a nearby hospital who were treating Rofayda for an injured leg discovered she was eight months pregnant. Palestinian authorities whisked her off to a women's shelter in Bethlehem, where she gave birth to a healthy boy Dec. 23. He has been adopted by another Palestinian family, court records show. Rofayda, meanwhile, wanted to return to her parents in the Ramallah suburb of Abu Qash. Ramallah Gov. Mustafa Isa called a meeting with the family and village elders, demanding they pledge in writing not to harm the girl. "He asked me if everyone in the family and the village would promise not to bother this girl, but I told him I couldn't give him a guarantee," Abu Qash Mayor Faik Shalout says. Rofayda returned home in late January without notifying the authorities. The shame was unbearable, Qaoud said. Relatives and friends refused to speak to her family. Her elder daughters' husbands wouldn't allow them to visit because Rofayda had returned home. On Jan. 27, Rofayda sent word that she was in danger to counselors at Abu-Dayyeh's center in East Jerusalem. They, in turn, called Palestinian police in Ramallah, who have jurisdiction over Abu Qash. The police said they couldn't get to the Qaoud home because of Israeli checkpoints. Qaoud, meanwhile, sent her husband, who suffers from heart disease, to a doctor in the nearby village of Bir Zeit. Her three youngest children went to a cousin's house. At 11:30 p.m. she killed Rofayda, court records show. Tarifi, the prosecutor, says he's convinced Qaoud had an accomplice, but Qaoud insists she acted alone. Qaoud turned herself in and, after four months in jail, was released pending the resolution of her case. While honor killings committed in the heat of the moment � for example, by a husband who catches his wife in bed with another man � generally carry a six-month to one-year jail term, Qaoud will likely be sentenced to three to five years in prison, Tarifi says. The fact she is a mother who was trying to protect her family's honor mitigates the crime of premeditated murder, which is punishable by death under Palestinian law, he adds. The brothers are serving minimum 10-year sentences in a Palestinian jail in the West Bank city of Jericho for statutory rape of a relative, Tarifi says. No trace of Rofayda or her brothers remains in the family home. Qaoud says she ripped up all of their photographs and burned their clothes. The bedroom in which she killed her daughter is now a storeroom. Erasing the memories is harder, she admits. She eases her pain by doting on her three children still living at home, especially the youngest, Fatima, 9, whom she lavishes with kisses. The children say they've forgiven Qaoud and return her affection. "My mother did this because she does not want us to be punished by people," Fatima explains with a shy smile. "I love my mother much more now than before."

What kind of world do we live in when a 17 year old girl is raped by her brothers, impregnated, and then killed by her own mother in the name of family honor. I cannot question the Arab ideals of family honor, for I am not of that culture. In my opinion however this is absolutely sickening to read and as rare as these stories may be, it is the possibility of its occurence that disturbs me. This girl was clearly a victim by all means based on the article, shouldn't her brothers be the ones to pay the ultimate price for such dastardly acts. All I can say is that Rofayda Qaoud wherever you are may Allah have mercy on your soul for you are not the guilty perpetrator in this deed. Truly sad to read.

Re: Speechless

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka I guess they still have future careers as suicide bombers.

I think you should wash your filthy mouth.

Quite... and this happens to thousands of innocents every year. It has to stop, now and forever, no matter the cost.

life of so many north americans:

sex at 12
alcohol at 14
drugs at 16
nothing to live for, suicide at 18


for Arabs what I just described is something beyond crazy and so not "human"...

every society has some dark parts...

Shakka you suck, you just love bringing down Arabs/Palestinians/Muslims.

One word to descrobe this article:


BIAS

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer One word to descrobe this article: BIAS

And what makes this topic any different

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer One word to descrobe this article: BIAS

Then, perhaps you could explain to me those positive aspects of innocent women being raped and slaughtered by those they hold most dear which the article in its "bias" failed to give adequate coverage to?

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter Then, perhaps you could explain to me those positive aspects of innocent women being raped and slaughtered by those they hold most dear which the article in its "bias" failed to give adequate coverage to?

aaaaaaaah please,go pick on some other countries,U.S. maybe??women dont get raped there??

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer aaaaaaaah please,go pick on some other countries,U.S. maybe??women dont get raped there??

It's a serious problem here as well, but for a variety of reasons it's not nearly the epidemic it is in many traditionally Islamic nations. In Pakistan, for instance:

quote:

According to HRCP, one woman was raped every two hours and one subjected to gang rape every eight hours in Pakistan in 2002. "The actual incidence of rape could be far higher. Social taboos and the stigma attached to rape meant that most rape cases went unreported, with families at times going to extraordinary lengths to cover-up cases," it reports. Women rights groups say many rape cases go unreported partly because of the impossibility of proving the crime under the Hudood laws.

I guess it shouldn't be a big surprise most women there don't report cases of rape. The whole "killing them" part of it is a pretty strong deterrent.

If it makes you feel any better, though, I'm just as critical of the U.S. and every other nation that stands by, allowing these atrocities to be carried out in the name of "honor" because it's "not our problem."

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer aaaaaaaah please,go pick on some other countries,U.S. maybe??women dont get raped there??

Women (and men) are raped all over the place, but I think the point was the whole 'honor killing' aspect to the case. In all honesty, do you really see that (On a frequent basis as the article suggests) in the US, or places like the UK/Australia etc?

quote:

Originally posted by ahlamalek life of so many north americans: sex at 12 alcohol at 14 drugs at 16 nothing to live for, suicide at 18

more like people who are angsts and listen to linkin park

quote:

Originally posted by ahlamalek Shakka you suck, you just love bringing down Arabs/Palestinians/Muslims.

Yup, that's me. I suck because I'm posting a valid news article. I take it that means that you support the killing of innocent children while preserving the guilty?

Nah, I just found the article deplorable in general. If it had happened in Germany or Sweden or California, I'd still find it equally as deplorable.

I'd be more interested in finding out the actual circumstances that arose in which 2 brothers decided it was cool to rape their own sister! You'd think they were from South Alabama or something! (See, I do have a sense of humor).

Re: Re: Speechless

quote:

Originally posted by Cyrus King I think you should wash your filthy mouth.

Yeah, I suppose that was a bit of a low blow. I take it back, but still think it's disgusting that the daughter was killed and for some reason the sons received a less severe punishment.

That's awful!

that is pretty sick. anyone who would kill their own child to restore honor to their name is inhuman.

Very sick. She is the victim of a rape and she gets punished? Jeez, what a sick world we live in

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer aaaaaaaah please,go pick on some other countries,U.S. maybe??women dont get raped there??

omg man not everything is about your "countries"

u get so offended for some reason.

he just posted this cuz he thought it was fuked up, not because he hates all arabs.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider And what makes this topic any different

Uhm.....can I pass and come back to this question later?

It is really hard.



MrS

i don't agree with what happened, I think the mother and the brothers deserved to be jailed, but maybe people should look at their own cultures instead of always pointing out the short comings (in their mind) of other cultures.

i once received an email started by an american to petetion that women in arab states shouldn't have to wear all that clothing (I forget the exact terminology used to describe it, but in some arab states its improper for women to show skin in public). Again, I don't agree that in some cultures women aren't treated equally, but on the other hand i don't agree with going around telling every other culture that what they do is completely wrong either. there has to be some balance.

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