JEDDAH, 1 August 2005 — Last Thursday, thousands of people gathered in front of the family home of a murdered man in Khamis Mushayt to ask his family to forgive the murderer, a young married woman and mother of three who has been in jail for six years waiting to be executed. She allegedly killed the man in self-defense when he tried to rape her.
The case received wide attention and sympathy from the public who signed up by the thousands at a website imploring the family to forgive the woman and accept blood money instead, around SR8 million so far, from the woman’s family according to Okaz newspaper.
Is the man’s family holding out for more money as some people claim? All attempts to get the family to forgive the woman during the past six years failed and so the chances of her being executed are almost certain. Does she deserve the death sentence for killing a man supposedly in self-defense? She confessed to the police and the religious court of being involved with the slain man but when he demanded sex and threatened her, she defended her honor and killed him. Her husband, her family and the whole community had stood by her throughout this time. She expressed remorse over her actions and during her prison stay she memorized the Qur’an and has been a good prisoner according to the warden as reported in Okaz newspaper.
Compare this sad story of the “Khamis Mushayt girl” as she has become known with the case of the “Panda girl” who was raped last year and the whole act with the girl pleading for mercy was videotaped with a camera phone by the assailants who then distributed it via Bluetooth and a website.
That case also received wide attention and outrage by the community for the horrendousness of the crime. After a few months, the high court ruled that the three men involved be flogged and imprisoned for a number of years, the “harshest” sentence for the main perpetrator was 12 years imprisonment and 1,200 lashes to be delivered over a period of time. That sentencing was not considered fair by many people who thought that the men should have been executed. A legal source told Al-Watan newspaper that the high court’s decision was not final and that the accused could appeal.
In our judicial system, if a person kills a human being accidentally, say in a car accident or kills a thief or murderer in self-defense, that person is held responsible for taking a life and is imprisoned until the killed man’s family accepts the blood money offered. If the person killed is a woman her family is paid half what is due a man.
The law specifies the blood money amount for the accidental death of a man as SR100,000 and of a woman as SR50,000. Regardless of who was at fault in the car accident or that the person killed was an intruder or thief, a man’s life has been taken and the person who took it must be held accountable.
That is our system.
To say that our justice system needs reform is stating the obvious. Everyday our newspapers report court cases of divorce, murder or rape leaving much to be desired in how the case was handled and the ruling issued. Not that we are objecting to Shariah law, God forbid, where the punishment for murder, theft and adultery are clearly stated in the Qur’an once it has been proven.
The frustration and the dismay are with the undefined procedures, the discrimination in ruling between similar cases or the inconsistencies in rulings between similar crimes by people of different degrees and backgrounds.
People, for example, who were unfortunate enough to go through a court, complain of unnecessary delays by the judge simply because the defendant in the case did not show up in court session after session. Arab News reported the case of a woman trying to get a divorce for the past 16 years. Last week Arab News reported the case of an expatriate waiting to get paid his salary for the past two years with no hope of him actually receiving his dues any time soon. Most significantly, Nour Miyati, the Indonesian maid who accused her sponsor of torture with the result of having some of her fingers and toes amputated due to gangrene, is yet to receive any compensation. The husband of Rania Al-Baz, another victim, who beat her, choked her and dumped her at a hospital nearly dead, got six months imprisonment and 300 lashes.
In cases of murder and theft it is understandable that the judge would take his time before passing a ruling for fear of making a mistake that might cost an innocent man his life or a limb. In cases of divorce and unpaid salaries, the facts of the case should be clear and straightforward.
Earlier this year members of the National Society for Human Rights met with the high court president to discuss laws and regulations on the issue of sexual abuse within the family. Senior member Al-Jowhara Al-Angari told Arab News that they discussed the procedures and implementation of rulings given in such cases which have to be severe. The society’s family committee presented the case of two teenage girls filing a complaint against their father in court. The girls were seeking the death penalty for their father who sexually abused them and made their lives hell.
“If we can’t have a death sentence for such a crime then we should at least pass a life sentence,” said Al-Angari. The father is completing a 10-year jail sentence for his crime but efforts have been made to reduce it to five years. The girls’ lawyer is asking that the father be revoked of guardianship of the girls.
“Revoking guardianship should be an automatic decision once sentencing has been passed rather than make the victims go through the ordeal again,” said Al-Angari.
In sexual abuse cases, as with many others, the solution lies in taking swift and forceful action against the abusers as well as passing harsh sentences that match the enormity of the crime. Otherwise, what we have now is people taking advantage of the loopholes in our system while the victims continue to suffer.
