Licensed to Kill

The image of hundreds of Syrian women, carrying white cloths and olive branches in a protest against the government’s mass arrests of the men of their village in April, was indeed powerful. There, in the town of Baida, the women had seemed to be political equals of their men in the way they stood up, side by side, for their cause. Yet such seeming equality proves only to be an illusion for most Syrian women in their domestic lives. In fact, gender discrimination in Syrian law serves to institutionalize the social and cultural stigmas associated with sexual abuse, honor crimes, and divorce.

Sexual abuse has long been a hidden crime in Syria. Official statistics on spousal rape and abuse are virtually non-existent, although recent studies show that one in four Syrian women surveyed reported that they have been victims of sexual abuse. Most of these violence and assault cases have gone unreported, for few victims choose to seek redress in court due to partiality of the law. Sharia laws treats men and women differently, and some personal status laws in Syria use Sharia regardless of the religion of the parties involved in the case. According to Article 508 of the Sharia penal code, “If there is a contracted marriage between the man who commits rape, sexual abuse, kidnapping, sexual harassment and the victim, then there is no charge or the punishment is stopped.” In other words, there is no law against spousal rape; rather, the law encourages rapists to marry their victims.

Since the law fails to prevent domestic violence, honor crimes have also taken place at an alarming rate. Honor crimes are often cases of homicide of women and girls by family members who believe that the victim has brought humiliation upon the family or community. Dishonor, especially for a family, can include adultery, refusal of an arranged marriage, or even marriage by free will. It is important to note that victims of honor crimes have included gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals. In Syria, between 300 and 400 cases of such honor crimes occur annually, according to the 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). For instance, Hasso Abdal, a resident of Hassakeh, shot his 21-year-old daughter last May because she filed a divorce and decided to elope with her lover. Most perpetrators such as Abdal were convicted under Article 129 of the Syrian penal code, which allowed judges to reduce the severity of the penalty sentence when “honor” is a motive for the murder. Women have no opportunity of defending themselves, while men have no other socially acceptable alternatives to regain their honor except by attacking the very objects of their dishonor.

Furthermore, marriage has become both the cause and the focal point for discriminatory practices. Divorce and criminal laws have made clear distinctions between men and women. Even if a man and a woman each committed the same act of adultery, punishment for the woman will be twice that of the man. The Syrian court will accept any evidence from a man claiming his wife’s adultery; however, when a woman files a divorce due to adultery, her husband must confess to the crime. As stated in the 2009 US Department of State Human Rights Report of Syria, there were no cases in which a woman succeeded in obtaining a divorce on the grounds of adultery. Moreover, a divorced woman is often not entitled to alimony and will lose all physical and legal custody of her sons when they reach age 13 and of her daughters when they reach age 15. A husband can even lawfully prohibit his wife from leaving the country or traveling abroad.

In spite of such measures to impede women from filing divorces and tie them to the bonds of their marriage, no laws prohibit practices that seem to violate the very premise of matrimony. The UNHCR has observed a growing practice of temporary “pleasure marriage” conducted by some Shi’a clerics. These marriages have a predetermined duration of as little as one day and the marital contract becomes null after the agreed-upon term has passed. They practically serve as a justification for men who seek to patronize prostitutes. The country has also become a popular destination of sex tourism for men and sex trafficking for women.

As such, the Syrian law encourages and further institutionalizes the oppression of women in a traditionally paternalistic society. Some may point to President Bashar Al-Assad’s recent amendment of the honor killing law, Article 548, in January as a new step towards reform. Under the provisions of the new legislation, those convicted of killing a relative for having illicit sex will now receive a sentence of between five and seven years, instead of the original two years. Yet the regular sentence for non-premeditated murder is at least 10 to 15 years. Bassam al-Kadi, the Director of the women’s rights group Syrian Women’s Observatory, said that such an article should not merely be amended, but rather omitted altogether.

The fight for women’s rights in Syria is far from over; in fact, it is just beginning. As the resounding cries of the Damascus protesters have demanded in the past months, “more needs to be done.” Such will be the battle hymn of Syrian women for years to come.