Submitted by Ellen R. Sheeley, Jul 18, 2007 15:50

Regarding Shafika Mattar's "Jordanian Given Six-Month Term for Killing Sister" (July 10, 2007), it is important to note that Articles 97, 98, and 340 of the Jordanian penal code offer leniency to the perpetrators for "honor" killings. Typical sentences for them run from three to 24 months, but average only six months, as was handed down in this case. If these crimes are to be taken seriously, there needs to be, inter alia, airtight legal reform, possibly even minimum sentences for these crimes.

I am the author of a recently-published book on this very subject entitled "Reclaiming Honor in Jordan," available on Amazon.com. In it, I detail the findings of a nationwide empirical study I conducted of attitudes and opinions about "honor" killings in Jordan--to my knowledge, the first empirical research of this kind. My findings revealed overwhelming support among the Jordanian people for stiffening the sentences for "honor" killings. It wasn't even a close call. Eighty-nine per cent of my representative sample said they support stricter penalties for these crimes ( 3.5% were neutral and 7.5% said they do not).

Granted, Jordan is not a democracy, but one still cannot help but wonder why its ruling monarch cannot find a way, perhaps using a royal decree, perhaps working through the tribal system within Jordan, to end or at least to punish this dreadful practice, particularly when there is such strong support among his subjects for doing so. One gets the impression that, for all the words and the hand wringing, there just isn't the political will. I, for one, cannot understand why a woman's life continues to have so little value in this world.

Respectfully,

Ellen R. Sheeley

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