Jordan upset at Hamas/Fatah deal
Posted: 09 May 2011 06:01 AM PDT
Palestine Today reports that the Kingdom of Jordan is not happy about the Fatah/Hamas unity deal.
Jordan is mostly upset that they were not consulted beforehand .The kingdom has been harsh with Hamas elements in Jordan and the sudden about-face embarrassed the country.
As a result, Jordan refused to send any high-ranking officials to the Cairo ceremony and sent a note pf protest to Mahmoud Abbas.
Jordan is also upset at Egypt, both on not giving the kingdom a heads-up about the agreement as well as the interrupted supplies of natural gas due to saboteurs blowing up the gas lines towards Jordan and Israel in Egypt.
The newspaper describes the rift as a "crisis."
Elder of Ziyon
Showing posts with label Jordan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jordan. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Handing Out Sweets in Jordan for OBL's Martyrdom
JAordan's Ammon News reports that Jordan's Islamists are celebrating "the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama Bin Laden," saying that he left the world the way he wanted to.
Salafi jihadist Abu Qutaybah Majali recalled that Bin Laden was "anathema to the Americans and Jews and their allies."
Majali accompanied Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1986 to 1991.
He vowed to "continue the jihad until the Day of Resurrection."
Salafists in Maan, an Islamist stronghold 250 km south of Amman, handed out sweets to celebrate his "martyrdom." That is usually done there where relatives of community members get killed in Iraq.
A town west of Amman had some shops close and raise black flags in a sign of mourning.
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Jamil Abu Bakr told Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, chose this path knowing the cost of confrontation and resistance to America and its allies the dictators in the region."
He continued, "Although we disagree with bin Laden in his approach, he stuck to his principles until the last moment, and stood in the face of the most powerful global force for ten years and did not appear in any waiver of his beliefs."
"We believe that as long as there is injustice and aggression, there will be resistance with multiple approaches to this resistance."
Political analyst and expert on Islamic groups, Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumman, said Osama bin Laden is more popular in the Jordanian street than his second in command, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is from Jordan.
He told Al Jazeera that polls showed bin Laden's popularity even after the Amman bombings claimed by al-Zarqawi in 2005 and stated that this is because Bin laden didn't criticize Jordan and his focus was instead on Americans and Jews and the Western powers.
Salafi jihadist Abu Qutaybah Majali recalled that Bin Laden was "anathema to the Americans and Jews and their allies."
Majali accompanied Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1986 to 1991.
He vowed to "continue the jihad until the Day of Resurrection."
Salafists in Maan, an Islamist stronghold 250 km south of Amman, handed out sweets to celebrate his "martyrdom." That is usually done there where relatives of community members get killed in Iraq.
A town west of Amman had some shops close and raise black flags in a sign of mourning.
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Jamil Abu Bakr told Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, chose this path knowing the cost of confrontation and resistance to America and its allies the dictators in the region."
He continued, "Although we disagree with bin Laden in his approach, he stuck to his principles until the last moment, and stood in the face of the most powerful global force for ten years and did not appear in any waiver of his beliefs."
"We believe that as long as there is injustice and aggression, there will be resistance with multiple approaches to this resistance."
Political analyst and expert on Islamic groups, Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumman, said Osama bin Laden is more popular in the Jordanian street than his second in command, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is from Jordan.
He told Al Jazeera that polls showed bin Laden's popularity even after the Amman bombings claimed by al-Zarqawi in 2005 and stated that this is because Bin laden didn't criticize Jordan and his focus was instead on Americans and Jews and the Western powers.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Jordan Starts Blasphemy Trial of Dane
Jordan starts trial of Danish cartoonist for blasphemy
Posted: 26 Apr 2011 09:28 PM PDT
From Al Arabiya:
A Jordanian court has begun blasphemy proceedings against Danish artist Kurt Westergaard for a controversial cartoon he drew of the Prophet Mohammed.
“A court in Amman began today the trial in absentia of those who insulted the Prophet, including Westergaard and Danish newspapers which published his offensive cartoon,” said Tareq Hawamdeh, lawyer for local journalists and activists who brought the suit. The proceeding started on April 25.
“Judge Nathir Shehadeh adjourned the trial until May 8 to hear the witnesses,” Mr. Hawamdeh said in a statement.
In 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten ran a feature with several different artists’ drawings under the heading “Faces of Mohammed.” The most controversial of the cartoons was Mr. Westergaard’s depicting the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.
The Jordanian court subpoenaed Mr. Westergaard on April 14 after accusing him of committing “the crime of blasphemy.”
A Jordanian prosecutor summoned Mr. Westergaard for questioning that year after 30 independent newspapers, Websites and radio stations in Jordan sued him over the cartoon, which was published in at least 17 Danish dailies, sparking violent protests in a number of Muslim countries, including Jordan.
“These judicial steps should serve to prevent future attempts to insult Islam and stir up racial hatred towards Muslims across the world, particularly in Europe,” said Zakarya Sheikh, a spokesperson for the group of local media who is suing Mr. Westergaard.
Mr. Sheikh, who is the editor of an Islamic weekly newspaper in Jordan, sued Mr. Westergaard in 2008, saying: “I will do everything in my power to bring him to trial. He deserves the harshest punishment available within the law.”
Mr. Westergaard, 75, told Agence France-Press after the subpoena that “I have not heard about this trial and have not been informed.”
“In any case, I have no intention of going even if I am asked to,” he said, adding, “I do not want to risk becoming familiar with the Jordanian prisons, which would be hell.”
Jordanian legislators have demanded that the government sever ties with Denmark. Amman has condemned the caricature, warning that it could spark further extremism and harm relations between Denmark and Muslim countries.
In 2010 a man with ties to Somalia’s hard-line Islamist group al-Shabab was arrested after attempting to kill Mr. Westergaard in his home with an axe.
Mr. Westergaard is currently living under around-the-clock police protection.
Does this mean that Jordanian law allows anyone worldwide to be prosecuted for blasphemy?
If this is how moderate, Western-leaning Jordan acts when it is not ruled by Islamists, imagine what kind of a country it would be if it was!
Elder of Ziyon
Posted: 26 Apr 2011 09:28 PM PDT
From Al Arabiya:
A Jordanian court has begun blasphemy proceedings against Danish artist Kurt Westergaard for a controversial cartoon he drew of the Prophet Mohammed.
“A court in Amman began today the trial in absentia of those who insulted the Prophet, including Westergaard and Danish newspapers which published his offensive cartoon,” said Tareq Hawamdeh, lawyer for local journalists and activists who brought the suit. The proceeding started on April 25.
“Judge Nathir Shehadeh adjourned the trial until May 8 to hear the witnesses,” Mr. Hawamdeh said in a statement.
In 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten ran a feature with several different artists’ drawings under the heading “Faces of Mohammed.” The most controversial of the cartoons was Mr. Westergaard’s depicting the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.
The Jordanian court subpoenaed Mr. Westergaard on April 14 after accusing him of committing “the crime of blasphemy.”
A Jordanian prosecutor summoned Mr. Westergaard for questioning that year after 30 independent newspapers, Websites and radio stations in Jordan sued him over the cartoon, which was published in at least 17 Danish dailies, sparking violent protests in a number of Muslim countries, including Jordan.
“These judicial steps should serve to prevent future attempts to insult Islam and stir up racial hatred towards Muslims across the world, particularly in Europe,” said Zakarya Sheikh, a spokesperson for the group of local media who is suing Mr. Westergaard.
Mr. Sheikh, who is the editor of an Islamic weekly newspaper in Jordan, sued Mr. Westergaard in 2008, saying: “I will do everything in my power to bring him to trial. He deserves the harshest punishment available within the law.”
Mr. Westergaard, 75, told Agence France-Press after the subpoena that “I have not heard about this trial and have not been informed.”
“In any case, I have no intention of going even if I am asked to,” he said, adding, “I do not want to risk becoming familiar with the Jordanian prisons, which would be hell.”
Jordanian legislators have demanded that the government sever ties with Denmark. Amman has condemned the caricature, warning that it could spark further extremism and harm relations between Denmark and Muslim countries.
In 2010 a man with ties to Somalia’s hard-line Islamist group al-Shabab was arrested after attempting to kill Mr. Westergaard in his home with an axe.
Mr. Westergaard is currently living under around-the-clock police protection.
Does this mean that Jordanian law allows anyone worldwide to be prosecuted for blasphemy?
If this is how moderate, Western-leaning Jordan acts when it is not ruled by Islamists, imagine what kind of a country it would be if it was!
Elder of Ziyon
Egyptians Sabotage Gas Pipeline to Jordan, Israel
Saboteurs on Wednesday blew up a pipeline running through Egypt's North Sinai near the town of El-Arish that supplies gas to Israel and Jordan, a security source told Reuters.
"An unknown armed gang attacked the gas pipeline," the security source said, adding that the flow of gas to Israel and Jordan had been hit.
"Authorities closed the main source of gas supplying the pipeline and are working to extinguish the fire," the source said, adding there was a tower of flame at the scene.
--
Neighbouring Jordan depends on Egyptian gas to generate 80% of its electricity while Israel gets 40% of its natural gas from the country. Syria also imports gas from Egypt.
Israel's Leviathan gas field can't go online fast enough.
Elder of Ziyon
"An unknown armed gang attacked the gas pipeline," the security source said, adding that the flow of gas to Israel and Jordan had been hit.
"Authorities closed the main source of gas supplying the pipeline and are working to extinguish the fire," the source said, adding there was a tower of flame at the scene.
--
Neighbouring Jordan depends on Egyptian gas to generate 80% of its electricity while Israel gets 40% of its natural gas from the country. Syria also imports gas from Egypt.
Israel's Leviathan gas field can't go online fast enough.
Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Jordan Claims Stolen Metal Plates Authentic
The director of Jordan's antiquities department said Sunday that "treasure of vital historic importance" has turned up in Israel after being smuggled out of his country.
"It's about 70 pounds (32 kilograms) of metal containing between five and 15 pages bound by lead rings, as well as copper manuscripts dating from the first century AD," Ziad al-Saad told reporters.
"These books and manuscripts would have been used by the first Christians to come to Jordan, fleeing persecution by the Romans," he said.
"These pieces are a treasure of vital historical importance as they offer new information about the origins of Christianity, and especially because manuscripts from this period are very rare."
Saad said the pieces had been discovered "in the north of Jordan several years ago during illegal excavations in caves, and were smuggled into Israel, where they found their way into the hands of an Israeli merchant who had them appraised in Britain."
"Experts at Cambridge University informed Jordan" of the items' reappearance, Saad said.
"They are of equal, if not greater importance than the Dead Sea Scrolls."
The director of Jordan's antiquities department said, just yesterday and without qualification, that these metal codices are as important as the Dead Sea Scrolls?
This is very interesting, because those same codices have almost certainly already been exposed as fakes.
Already a month ago experts had grave doubts about their authenticity:
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), however, has dismissed the idea that the books are of any value. Experts who examined some of them, it said, "absolutely doubted their authenticity". According to the IAA, the books are a "mixture of incompatible periods and styles…without any connection or logic. Such forged motifs can be found in their thousands in the antiquities markets of Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East."
Professor Andre Lemaire, an expert in ancient inscriptions from the Sorbonne, was also dubious, saying the writing on some of the codices he had seen made no sense and it was "a question apparently of sophisticated fakes".
The Paleojudaica blog quotes one expert who looked at the text, replying to an inquiry about these tablets:
The text on your bronze tablet, therefore, makes no sense in its own right, but has been extracted unintelligently from another longer text (as if it were inscribed with the words: 't to be that is the question wheth'). The longer text from which it derives is a perfectly ordinary tombstone from Madaba in Jordan which happens to have been on display in the Amman museum for the past fifty years or so. The text on your bronze tablet is repeated, in part, in three different places, meaningless in each case.
The only possible explanation is that the text on the bronze tablet was copied directly from the inscription in the museum at Amman by someone who did not understand the meaning of the text of the inscription, but was simply looking for a plausible-looking sequence of Greek letters to copy. He copied that sequence three times, in each case mixing up the letters alpha and lambda.
This particular bronze tablet is, therefore, a modern forgery, produced in Jordan within the last fifty years. I would stake my career on it.
Wikipedia has much more, as the story develops.
So while I cannot say whether Jordan's charges that the pages were stolen are true or not, it is astounding that the head of Jordan's antiquities department is ignoring all the evidence that casts serious doubt on the authenticity of these plates.
Elder of Ziyon
"It's about 70 pounds (32 kilograms) of metal containing between five and 15 pages bound by lead rings, as well as copper manuscripts dating from the first century AD," Ziad al-Saad told reporters.
"These books and manuscripts would have been used by the first Christians to come to Jordan, fleeing persecution by the Romans," he said.
"These pieces are a treasure of vital historical importance as they offer new information about the origins of Christianity, and especially because manuscripts from this period are very rare."
Saad said the pieces had been discovered "in the north of Jordan several years ago during illegal excavations in caves, and were smuggled into Israel, where they found their way into the hands of an Israeli merchant who had them appraised in Britain."
"Experts at Cambridge University informed Jordan" of the items' reappearance, Saad said.
"They are of equal, if not greater importance than the Dead Sea Scrolls."
The director of Jordan's antiquities department said, just yesterday and without qualification, that these metal codices are as important as the Dead Sea Scrolls?
This is very interesting, because those same codices have almost certainly already been exposed as fakes.
Already a month ago experts had grave doubts about their authenticity:
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), however, has dismissed the idea that the books are of any value. Experts who examined some of them, it said, "absolutely doubted their authenticity". According to the IAA, the books are a "mixture of incompatible periods and styles…without any connection or logic. Such forged motifs can be found in their thousands in the antiquities markets of Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East."
Professor Andre Lemaire, an expert in ancient inscriptions from the Sorbonne, was also dubious, saying the writing on some of the codices he had seen made no sense and it was "a question apparently of sophisticated fakes".
The Paleojudaica blog quotes one expert who looked at the text, replying to an inquiry about these tablets:
The text on your bronze tablet, therefore, makes no sense in its own right, but has been extracted unintelligently from another longer text (as if it were inscribed with the words: 't to be that is the question wheth'). The longer text from which it derives is a perfectly ordinary tombstone from Madaba in Jordan which happens to have been on display in the Amman museum for the past fifty years or so. The text on your bronze tablet is repeated, in part, in three different places, meaningless in each case.
The only possible explanation is that the text on the bronze tablet was copied directly from the inscription in the museum at Amman by someone who did not understand the meaning of the text of the inscription, but was simply looking for a plausible-looking sequence of Greek letters to copy. He copied that sequence three times, in each case mixing up the letters alpha and lambda.
This particular bronze tablet is, therefore, a modern forgery, produced in Jordan within the last fifty years. I would stake my career on it.
Wikipedia has much more, as the story develops.
So while I cannot say whether Jordan's charges that the pages were stolen are true or not, it is astounding that the head of Jordan's antiquities department is ignoring all the evidence that casts serious doubt on the authenticity of these plates.
Elder of Ziyon
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Israel & Egypt Peace Treaty
“Egypt is not only our closest friend in the region,” Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a veteran Israeli politician and former defense minister known for his close ties to senior Egyptian officials, told Army Radio on Wednesday, “the cooperation between us goes beyond the strategic.”
Israeli officials and analysts said they believed that Mr. Mubarak’s government was strong enough to withstand the protests, at least as long as it had the backing of the Egyptian Army.
But with Mr. Mubarak, who came to power in 1981, now an ailing octogenarian, Israelis were in any case looking ahead to a transition of some sort in Egypt, amid a sense of a shifting regional equilibrium.
...
Israelis were not yet envisaging a future without the peace treaty with Egypt. Mr. Eran said that almost any government in Egypt would want to maintain the pact, even at a low profile, because so much is hinged on it, including Egypt’s relations with, and aid from, the United States.
At least in the short term, Israelis did not see a need for panic. At the same time, officials here were cautious about making long-term predictions. After Mr. Mubarak leaves the stage, one said, “We have no idea what will happen.”
Read the whole thing.
I wish I could share Eran's relative optimism. I can't. Most of Egyptian society - as Isabel Kershner points out in the Times - still hates us. It goes without saying that the Muslim Brotherhood would abrogate or ignore the treaty. But Egypt's great white hope - Mohamed ElBaradei - was known for his contempt of Israel when he was at the IAEA. The way I see it, we are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Egypt, and any outcome is likely to leave us facing open hostility - or at least even less cooperation than exists today - to our south. And the answer to my "what can go wrong" question is "lots."
The fundamental problem is that although we made peace with the Egyptian leadership, we never made peace with the Egyptian people, who were left out of the process. That is true in Jordan as well, and as Palileaks has shown, it would be true if we made peace with the 'Palestinian Authority' today. In the long run, we are probably better off that Palileaks is the last nail in the coffin of the 'peace process' with the 'Palestinians.'
Labels: Cairo 25 January 2011, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Hosni Mubarak, Jordan, Palileaks
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:44 AM
Israeli officials and analysts said they believed that Mr. Mubarak’s government was strong enough to withstand the protests, at least as long as it had the backing of the Egyptian Army.
But with Mr. Mubarak, who came to power in 1981, now an ailing octogenarian, Israelis were in any case looking ahead to a transition of some sort in Egypt, amid a sense of a shifting regional equilibrium.
...
Israelis were not yet envisaging a future without the peace treaty with Egypt. Mr. Eran said that almost any government in Egypt would want to maintain the pact, even at a low profile, because so much is hinged on it, including Egypt’s relations with, and aid from, the United States.
At least in the short term, Israelis did not see a need for panic. At the same time, officials here were cautious about making long-term predictions. After Mr. Mubarak leaves the stage, one said, “We have no idea what will happen.”
Read the whole thing.
I wish I could share Eran's relative optimism. I can't. Most of Egyptian society - as Isabel Kershner points out in the Times - still hates us. It goes without saying that the Muslim Brotherhood would abrogate or ignore the treaty. But Egypt's great white hope - Mohamed ElBaradei - was known for his contempt of Israel when he was at the IAEA. The way I see it, we are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Egypt, and any outcome is likely to leave us facing open hostility - or at least even less cooperation than exists today - to our south. And the answer to my "what can go wrong" question is "lots."
The fundamental problem is that although we made peace with the Egyptian leadership, we never made peace with the Egyptian people, who were left out of the process. That is true in Jordan as well, and as Palileaks has shown, it would be true if we made peace with the 'Palestinian Authority' today. In the long run, we are probably better off that Palileaks is the last nail in the coffin of the 'peace process' with the 'Palestinians.'
Labels: Cairo 25 January 2011, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Hosni Mubarak, Jordan, Palileaks
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:44 AM
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Jordan Election Has Anti-Israel Theme
There are parliamentary elections in Jordan this week, and I'm sure you'll all be shocked to hear that the elections' major theme is bashing Israel.
Behind the anger expressed by candidates and voters lies US ally Jordan's greatest fear: That if peacemaking collapses, Israel will try to force it to take in the residents of the West Bank and stand as the Palestinian state. Recent talk by right-wing Israelis about the "Jordanian option" has only fueled the belief here that this is Israel's ultimate plan.
"It would mean Jordan's demise and the obliteration of our national identity," Salameh Ghoweiry, an independent candidate, shouted to loud applause to a crowd of Palestinian Jordanians during a campaign speech in his constituency, Zarqa.
The town, east of the capital, Amman, is the hometown of al-Qaida in Iraq's slain leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and is a center for Islamic hard-liners.
Issues of rising inflation, steep increases in fuel and food prices and unemployment have arisen on the campaign trail as some 763 candidates vie for seats in the 120-member parliament in Tuesday's election. But the theme heard most often — and embraced by candidates of all political stripes — is anger at Israel, even more than in past elections in this country that, along with Egypt, is the only Arab state that has reached peace with Israel.
Many candidates trumpet denunciation of Israel on their campaign banners, and on the stump they call for "political resistance" to defend Jordan from the Israeli threat — avoiding any calls for violence — and for ending the peace treaty, a step King Abdullah II is highly unlikely to take. One moderate running for re-election, Khalil Atiyeh, is seen on posters proudly burning the Israeli flag.
"Resisting the Zionist entity and abolishing the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty is a national duty," proclaim the banners of a leftist, Khaled Ramadan, whose official campaign slogan is "Israel is the enemy."
"Since the peace process is dead, Jordan should prepare to confront Israel's atrocious scheme of forcing more Palestinians out of their homes in the West Bank and dump them in Jordan," Ramadan told The Associated Press in an interview.
Jordan is de facto the 'Palestinian state' (contrary to what this article says, it's not 50% but 70% 'Palestinian'). But because a spoiled 'king' and his family had to be given a consolation prize by the British, 78% of the original 'Palestine mandate' was cut off and given to a small group of Bedouin tribes. And now they pretend that they have a separate identity from the 'Palestinians' on this side of the river.
What could go wrong?
(The picture is downtown Amman).
Labels: Hashemite kingdom, Jordan is Palestine, Palestine mandate
posted by Carl in Jerusalem
Monday, October 25, 2010
Geert Wilders: "Palestine is Jordan"
Here's another reason why Israelis should support Geert Wilders: He's on our side. This is from a Google translation of a Dutch newspaper article.
"Judea and Samaria are Israel Jewish settlements there so the more the better," twittered the politician on Saturday.
Wilders is known as a friend of Israel and has in the eighties, a period spent on a kibbutz.
...
Commenting on his tweet Wilders let him know that nothing interests''that''its position is contrary to the Dutch foreign policy.
The PVV''will never support a Palestinian state, except for Jordan.''This country, he said, actually all the Palestinian state. ''Jordan is Palestine.'
Wilders was responding to comments made earlier by United Nations special rapporteur Richard Falk.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Murder in the Name of Honor
Rana Husseini discusses her campaigning journalism and her new book, Murder in the Name of Honor.
Each year 5,000 girls and women around the world are killed by male relatives as a means of purging a family of shame brought upon it by the behavior of his sister, daughter, wife or mother.
In journalist Rana Husseini’s homeland of Jordan, 25 women are murdered each year and many more spend their life in prison as the authorities have no other way of guaranteeing that their family would not kill them if they are set free.
Common in many traditional societies and in migrant communities in Europe and the United States, honor killings and other punishments are carried out to restore the honor of a family
The so-called crimes that require ‘cleansing’ can range from a suspected affair to refusing to marry a man chosen for her.
Despite the taboo surrounding the issue, the award winning journalist Rana Husseini has been writing about ‘honor killings’ since joining the Jordan Times in 1994. In 1998 she was awarded a Reebok Award for Human Rights and her persistence in covering this issue has brought an otherwise ignored subject into the public arena in Jordan.
The Best of The Black Iris on Honor Killing
By kinziblogs
Nas at The Black Iris has been one of the most persistent male voices calling for change at every level in regard to dishonor killings. He supplied the archived post links, and going back over them, and the comments, was like a little history lesson for me.
If you missed any of these, they are worth going back to:
http://www.black-iris.com/2006/07/29/the-most-dishonorable-crime-in-jordan/
“Other than how detestable I find the very idea of these crimes to be as well as the criminally negligent behavior of our own parliament that refuses to pass or accept legislation to remove the honor crime status in our judicial system, I am constantly surprised at the brutality that some of these people inflict on their own kin. Some honor crimes are basic shootings, which granted does not make them any more or less humane however others, such as this one, use weapons likes axes and literally hack away at their relative, or their own daughter and sister in this case. Some have gone so far as to chop up their bodies into pieces as if this was an episode of the Sopranos and it was just another ‘hit’.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2007/03/18/verbatim/
“…one would face a longer jail sentence for bouncing a cheque than for killing a woman.”
Jordanian journalist/activist Rana Husseini speaking at a seminar in Doha
http://www.black-iris.com/2007/10/02/more-bad-math/
“Almost two years before the incident, one of the victims filed a lawsuit against the defendant accusing him of sexually assaulting her, court transcripts said.
The defendant was tried at the Criminal Court on molestation charges, but was acquitted one month before the murder.
More recently, the court added, the same victim filed a lawsuit accusing her father of sexual assault and he was subsequently arrested and detained.
The four victims all testified against their father, which angered the defendant so he invited them to dinner to discuss the matter the court said.
During dinner, the defendant tried to convince his sisters to drop charges or change their testimony as their father would otherwise end up in jail for at least 15 years, but they refused.
Instead, one of the victims threatened the defendant that she would file a case against him, which angered him and he drew a gun he was carrying and shot them all, the court said.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/01/08/more-honorable-arithmetic/
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/02/21/honoring-thy-sister/
“The suspect, who was not identified by officials, reportedly stabbed his 26-year-old sister seven times in the stomach on Tuesday, shortly after signing a guarantee that he would not harm his sibling who was in protective custody, the source said. Immediately after the incident, he went to a nearby police station, handed on-duty officers the knife he reportedly used in the incident and informed them that he killed his sister for reasons related to family honor, the source added.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/05/14/a-little-tough-on-honor/
“A court in Jordan has sentenced a 23-year-old man to 10 years in jail for killing his sister. The man was initially sentenced to death, but this was commuted to give him the chance to repent.
The court heard that he stabbed his sister 14 times and shot her repeatedly after her former husband accused her of having affairs. Jordanians convicted of so called “honor killings” have previously been jailed for as little as six months.
Correspondents say the 10-year sentence underlines the authorities’ determination to stamp out the crime. Amnesty International says that last year 17 women were officially recorded as having been killed in “honor crimes” in Jordan. [source]
They should’ve given him the death sentence. That would’ve gone a long way to underlining the authorities’ determination to stamp out the crime; a long way.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/07/17/how-jordanian-women-can-overcome-honor-crimes/
“I’m not advocating anything here, and let me be clear right off the bat about the degree of cynicism and sarcasm laced within the following lines in case it should be missed by anyone, however, it needs to be addressed in whatever way possible. And frankly, I’m sick of talking about honor crimes in this country and how the law should be changed. So I thought offering practical solutions might help.
Since the legal system isn’t going to be changed any time soon with regards to honor crimes in Jordan, and since honor crimes – and murder for that matter – is going to happen anyways, then I think Jordanian women should kill their husbands, fathers, brothers, fiances, and/or cousins who they believe are a threat to them and on their lives.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/09/23/a-man-is-valued-by-his-sisters-behavior-ruling-on-an-honor-crime/
“With recent debates on the blogosphere about the rule-of-law in Jordan, and how it can be abused by authority figures for the sake of pushing personal values and beliefs on everyone – which is obviously no way to run an objective judicial system – I can’t help but wonder if the same can said here.
Here we have a group of judges who essentially condone the actions of this young man based on their interpretation of local customs and values; justifying his taking of a life for a lesser crime his sister committed. The judges become the perpetrator’s defense team.
Each year 5,000 girls and women around the world are killed by male relatives as a means of purging a family of shame brought upon it by the behavior of his sister, daughter, wife or mother.
In journalist Rana Husseini’s homeland of Jordan, 25 women are murdered each year and many more spend their life in prison as the authorities have no other way of guaranteeing that their family would not kill them if they are set free.
Common in many traditional societies and in migrant communities in Europe and the United States, honor killings and other punishments are carried out to restore the honor of a family
The so-called crimes that require ‘cleansing’ can range from a suspected affair to refusing to marry a man chosen for her.
Despite the taboo surrounding the issue, the award winning journalist Rana Husseini has been writing about ‘honor killings’ since joining the Jordan Times in 1994. In 1998 she was awarded a Reebok Award for Human Rights and her persistence in covering this issue has brought an otherwise ignored subject into the public arena in Jordan.
The Best of The Black Iris on Honor Killing
By kinziblogs
Nas at The Black Iris has been one of the most persistent male voices calling for change at every level in regard to dishonor killings. He supplied the archived post links, and going back over them, and the comments, was like a little history lesson for me.
If you missed any of these, they are worth going back to:
http://www.black-iris.com/2006/07/29/the-most-dishonorable-crime-in-jordan/
“Other than how detestable I find the very idea of these crimes to be as well as the criminally negligent behavior of our own parliament that refuses to pass or accept legislation to remove the honor crime status in our judicial system, I am constantly surprised at the brutality that some of these people inflict on their own kin. Some honor crimes are basic shootings, which granted does not make them any more or less humane however others, such as this one, use weapons likes axes and literally hack away at their relative, or their own daughter and sister in this case. Some have gone so far as to chop up their bodies into pieces as if this was an episode of the Sopranos and it was just another ‘hit’.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2007/03/18/verbatim/
“…one would face a longer jail sentence for bouncing a cheque than for killing a woman.”
Jordanian journalist/activist Rana Husseini speaking at a seminar in Doha
http://www.black-iris.com/2007/10/02/more-bad-math/
“Almost two years before the incident, one of the victims filed a lawsuit against the defendant accusing him of sexually assaulting her, court transcripts said.
The defendant was tried at the Criminal Court on molestation charges, but was acquitted one month before the murder.
More recently, the court added, the same victim filed a lawsuit accusing her father of sexual assault and he was subsequently arrested and detained.
The four victims all testified against their father, which angered the defendant so he invited them to dinner to discuss the matter the court said.
During dinner, the defendant tried to convince his sisters to drop charges or change their testimony as their father would otherwise end up in jail for at least 15 years, but they refused.
Instead, one of the victims threatened the defendant that she would file a case against him, which angered him and he drew a gun he was carrying and shot them all, the court said.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/01/08/more-honorable-arithmetic/
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/02/21/honoring-thy-sister/
“The suspect, who was not identified by officials, reportedly stabbed his 26-year-old sister seven times in the stomach on Tuesday, shortly after signing a guarantee that he would not harm his sibling who was in protective custody, the source said. Immediately after the incident, he went to a nearby police station, handed on-duty officers the knife he reportedly used in the incident and informed them that he killed his sister for reasons related to family honor, the source added.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/05/14/a-little-tough-on-honor/
“A court in Jordan has sentenced a 23-year-old man to 10 years in jail for killing his sister. The man was initially sentenced to death, but this was commuted to give him the chance to repent.
The court heard that he stabbed his sister 14 times and shot her repeatedly after her former husband accused her of having affairs. Jordanians convicted of so called “honor killings” have previously been jailed for as little as six months.
Correspondents say the 10-year sentence underlines the authorities’ determination to stamp out the crime. Amnesty International says that last year 17 women were officially recorded as having been killed in “honor crimes” in Jordan. [source]
They should’ve given him the death sentence. That would’ve gone a long way to underlining the authorities’ determination to stamp out the crime; a long way.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/07/17/how-jordanian-women-can-overcome-honor-crimes/
“I’m not advocating anything here, and let me be clear right off the bat about the degree of cynicism and sarcasm laced within the following lines in case it should be missed by anyone, however, it needs to be addressed in whatever way possible. And frankly, I’m sick of talking about honor crimes in this country and how the law should be changed. So I thought offering practical solutions might help.
Since the legal system isn’t going to be changed any time soon with regards to honor crimes in Jordan, and since honor crimes – and murder for that matter – is going to happen anyways, then I think Jordanian women should kill their husbands, fathers, brothers, fiances, and/or cousins who they believe are a threat to them and on their lives.”
http://www.black-iris.com/2008/09/23/a-man-is-valued-by-his-sisters-behavior-ruling-on-an-honor-crime/
“With recent debates on the blogosphere about the rule-of-law in Jordan, and how it can be abused by authority figures for the sake of pushing personal values and beliefs on everyone – which is obviously no way to run an objective judicial system – I can’t help but wonder if the same can said here.
Here we have a group of judges who essentially condone the actions of this young man based on their interpretation of local customs and values; justifying his taking of a life for a lesser crime his sister committed. The judges become the perpetrator’s defense team.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Honor Killings
Palestinians: Family killed boy, 15, over Israel collaboration By The Associated Press Tags: collaborator, palestinian
Palestinian police on Thursday said a 15-year-old boy was found hanged in a West Bank barn, and said his father, uncle and cousin confessed to the slaying.
Police said family members told them they believed the boy collaborated with the Israeli army.
But authorities said that they are investigating other motives as well, as it is unlikely someone so young would be recruited as an informer.
Palestinian courts officials on Sunday said a Palestinian woman suspected of spying for Israel may be sentenced to death.
The officials said the 22-year-old woman worked as a collaborator after obtaining a divorce from her husband, who forced her to work as a prostitute, making her a social outcast in Palestinian society.
Palestinian military judge Abdul Karim al-Masri said the woman confessed to passing low-level information and refused a lawyer. "She didn't hurt anybody except herself," he said.
In the past two years, more than 30 Palestinians have been sentenced to death for spying, but none of the sentences have been carried out.
Jordan: No Honour in Killing '
by Rami Abdelrahman
For the past three weeks, Jordanian bloggers have been renewing calls against "honor killings," following a court conviction of a father and his two sons for beating his daughter to death for "going out with full make up."
The case sent waves of awe and shock across the Jordanian blogosphere and some of the mainstream newspapers, as this was the seventh case of women being murdered brutally by their relatives on the suspicion that they had committed "adultery" this year alone.
Blogger Kinzi was among the first to call for Jordanian male bloggers to break their silence about this topic.
"You all rose well when it was Gaza. This time, the evil is within our own land, perpetuated by our own laws, executed by Jordanian hands. Don’t you care as much for your fellow female citizens as you do for innocent Gazan women?"
The Arab Observer answered with a post initiating an email campaign:
"It is time for our local media, whether it is printed or online, to stand up to their responsibilities towards Jordanian citizens. It is time for you all to raise up your voices and lobby to abolish such retarded law. We awe it to ourselves, to our mothers, to our daughters and to our wives, we ought to provide them with dignity, equality, and safety. No Jordanian woman should fear the prosecution of a male relative. No man should get away with murder under the name of honor."
Jordanian law stipulates that a man who finds his wife or a related female engaged in "adultery" and kills or wounds her as a result of this discovery in a "fit of fury" receives a reduced sentence according to articles 340 and 98 of the Penal code. The Jordanian parliament, with tribal and Islamic MPs leading majority of seats, has failed twice in 2003 to reverse or change these laws. Seven cases of "honor killings" took place that year.
Joining other bloggers, Qwaider wrote in support of stopping honor killings, saying there is no proof whatsoever that this is related to Islamic laws and teachings.
Many think that honor killing has it's roots in the Islamic Shariah. Quite frankly nothing can be farther from the truth. In fact, Islam doesn't take people's lives as award for committing adultery without proof... You really need 4 people to see them in the act as witnesses... The punishment for any unmarried person (male or females) is few flogs (or the modern equivalent).
He called upon fellow bloggers to start "a campaign to protest the unjust, inhuman, and extremely degrading dishonor killing pardons that are spelled out in the law."
The calls were echoed in the Syrian blogosphere.
According to blogger Bam Bam, there has been little interaction between Jordanian and Syrian bloggers. But the recent campaign found support from Syrian bloggers as seen in posts written by Abu Fares, Razan, and last but not least KJ who wrote a fictional story entitled "why I killed my sister."
Bam Bam goes on to say this is high time to ask all the tough question:
“Are honor crimes an isolated occurrence or a culmination of several events that lead to them ? how frequent do those events occur and if I reduce the occurrence of the most frequent event can I reduce honor crimes? Why do people commit honor crimes? is it because of religion , to protect social status and reputation, or some other reasons?"
Just as bloggers continued to spread these messages, another killing took place - a 19-year-old man was charged of stabbing his 21-year-old sister, just after she was released from the governor's protection. He confessed to the murder, saying his sister "often left their family home to go to an unknown destination."
Blogger Kinzi commented on the sentence, saying it is an " improvement from the six months slap on the hand," since the man was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. She added that blogger Naseem Tarawnah had written about the murder when it took place in 2007. He then wrote that the victim, as in many similar cases, was not sexually active.
It is estimated that an average of 18 to 20 cases of "honor killings" are reported in Jordan every year, according to this televised report.
Palestinian police on Thursday said a 15-year-old boy was found hanged in a West Bank barn, and said his father, uncle and cousin confessed to the slaying.
Police said family members told them they believed the boy collaborated with the Israeli army.
But authorities said that they are investigating other motives as well, as it is unlikely someone so young would be recruited as an informer.
Palestinian courts officials on Sunday said a Palestinian woman suspected of spying for Israel may be sentenced to death.
The officials said the 22-year-old woman worked as a collaborator after obtaining a divorce from her husband, who forced her to work as a prostitute, making her a social outcast in Palestinian society.
Palestinian military judge Abdul Karim al-Masri said the woman confessed to passing low-level information and refused a lawyer. "She didn't hurt anybody except herself," he said.
In the past two years, more than 30 Palestinians have been sentenced to death for spying, but none of the sentences have been carried out.
Jordan: No Honour in Killing '
by Rami Abdelrahman
For the past three weeks, Jordanian bloggers have been renewing calls against "honor killings," following a court conviction of a father and his two sons for beating his daughter to death for "going out with full make up."
The case sent waves of awe and shock across the Jordanian blogosphere and some of the mainstream newspapers, as this was the seventh case of women being murdered brutally by their relatives on the suspicion that they had committed "adultery" this year alone.
Blogger Kinzi was among the first to call for Jordanian male bloggers to break their silence about this topic.
"You all rose well when it was Gaza. This time, the evil is within our own land, perpetuated by our own laws, executed by Jordanian hands. Don’t you care as much for your fellow female citizens as you do for innocent Gazan women?"
The Arab Observer answered with a post initiating an email campaign:
"It is time for our local media, whether it is printed or online, to stand up to their responsibilities towards Jordanian citizens. It is time for you all to raise up your voices and lobby to abolish such retarded law. We awe it to ourselves, to our mothers, to our daughters and to our wives, we ought to provide them with dignity, equality, and safety. No Jordanian woman should fear the prosecution of a male relative. No man should get away with murder under the name of honor."
Jordanian law stipulates that a man who finds his wife or a related female engaged in "adultery" and kills or wounds her as a result of this discovery in a "fit of fury" receives a reduced sentence according to articles 340 and 98 of the Penal code. The Jordanian parliament, with tribal and Islamic MPs leading majority of seats, has failed twice in 2003 to reverse or change these laws. Seven cases of "honor killings" took place that year.
Joining other bloggers, Qwaider wrote in support of stopping honor killings, saying there is no proof whatsoever that this is related to Islamic laws and teachings.
Many think that honor killing has it's roots in the Islamic Shariah. Quite frankly nothing can be farther from the truth. In fact, Islam doesn't take people's lives as award for committing adultery without proof... You really need 4 people to see them in the act as witnesses... The punishment for any unmarried person (male or females) is few flogs (or the modern equivalent).
He called upon fellow bloggers to start "a campaign to protest the unjust, inhuman, and extremely degrading dishonor killing pardons that are spelled out in the law."
The calls were echoed in the Syrian blogosphere.
According to blogger Bam Bam, there has been little interaction between Jordanian and Syrian bloggers. But the recent campaign found support from Syrian bloggers as seen in posts written by Abu Fares, Razan, and last but not least KJ who wrote a fictional story entitled "why I killed my sister."
Bam Bam goes on to say this is high time to ask all the tough question:
“Are honor crimes an isolated occurrence or a culmination of several events that lead to them ? how frequent do those events occur and if I reduce the occurrence of the most frequent event can I reduce honor crimes? Why do people commit honor crimes? is it because of religion , to protect social status and reputation, or some other reasons?"
Just as bloggers continued to spread these messages, another killing took place - a 19-year-old man was charged of stabbing his 21-year-old sister, just after she was released from the governor's protection. He confessed to the murder, saying his sister "often left their family home to go to an unknown destination."
Blogger Kinzi commented on the sentence, saying it is an " improvement from the six months slap on the hand," since the man was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. She added that blogger Naseem Tarawnah had written about the murder when it took place in 2007. He then wrote that the victim, as in many similar cases, was not sexually active.
It is estimated that an average of 18 to 20 cases of "honor killings" are reported in Jordan every year, according to this televised report.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Rape in Iraq
Rape’s vast toll in Iraq war remains largely ignored
Author: Wameeth (Iraq), Mideast Youth
This is a report by Anna Badkhen, a correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, who highlights the sort of news that has too often gone unreported. I felt it was important to also share here for the sake of awareness:
Many rape victims have escaped to Jordan but still don’t have access to treatment and counseling.
AMMAN, JORDAN - As though recoiling from her own memories, Khalida shrank deeper into her faded armchair with each sentence she told: of how gunmen apparently working for Iraq’s Interior Ministry kidnapped her, beat and raped her; of how they discarded her on a Baghdad sidewalk.
But her suffering did not end when she fled Iraq and became a refugee in Jordan’s capital, Amman. When Khalida’s husband learned that she had been raped, he abandoned her and their two young sons.
Rumors spread fast in Amman; soon, everyone on her block knew that she was without a man in the house. Last month, her Jordanian neighbor barged into her apartment and attempted to rape her.
Khalida never reported the incident. Like tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Jordan, she does not have a permit to live or work here, and she is afraid that if she turns to authorities for help she will get deported. So instead of seeking punishment for her assailant, she latched the flimsy metal door of her apartment and stopped going outside.
Her story sheds light on a problem that is little researched, poorly understood, and largely ignored: Iraqi rape victims who now live in Jordan illegally and without protection. Sexual assault is heavily stigmatized in the Middle East, and victims are often afraid to talk about it to anyone, fearing that their families will abandon them. And their shaky status in Jordan leaves them afraid to seek help and vulnerable to new assaults and abuse. They fear persecution by Jordanian immigration authorities almost as much as they fear returning to Iraq.
“The lack of legal status does lead to these sorts of protection issues [and] puts them in very exploitative situations,” says Imran Riza, who heads the mission in Jordan of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the main international agency that assists Iraqis in Jordan. Women like Khalida, he says, “are certainly vulnerable, and much more vulnerable than others.”
Rape is a common weapon of any war; no one knows how many Iraqi women have been raped since the war began in 2003. Most crimes against women “are not reported because of stigma, fear of retaliation, or lack of confidence in the police,” MADRE, an international women’s rights group, wrote in its 2007 report about violence against women in Iraq. Some women, like Khalida, are raped by Iraqi security forces. A 2005 report published by the Iraqi National Association for Human Rights found that women held in Interior Ministry detention centers endure “systematic rape by the investigators.”
A handful of organizations are working to help rape victims in Iraq. MADRE, together with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, operates several shelters and safe houses in Baghdad for Iraqi rape victims, where the women have access to healthcare and counseling.
But militias often target women’s rights advocates in Iraq, so these facilities are “a clandestine network,” operated by “mostly somebody who at a great risk to themselves has opened a room for these victims,” says Yifat Susskind, MADRE’s communications director. The shelters have helped several thousand Iraqi women since 2003. Most rape victims learn about the shelters from other women.
Documenting sexual assault in Iraq by international researchers remains complicated because of widespread violence. “There’s been a security issue, so we haven’t been able to get people on the ground to look at the issue for a long time,” says Marianne Mollmann, who leads women’s rights advocacy at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which published its last report about rape in Iraq in 2003.
Similarly, no one has tried to estimate how many Iraqi refugees have been raped while in Iraq or in Jordan, says Mohamad Habashneh, a Jordanian psychiatrist who works with Iraqi rape victims.
Mr. Habashneh has treated approximately 40 Iraqi rape victims for clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But he estimates that they are just a fraction of Iraqi refugees who had been raped.
Psychiatrists like Habashneh charge between $25 and $40 per visit, too expensive for most Iraqi refugees, who, like Khalida, live hand-to-mouth on monthly handouts of about $100 from international agencies.
Many victims are afraid to go outside or travel to a clinic out of fear of being detained by Jordanian authorities.
To help these women, women’s rights organizations in Jordan must coordinate with larger agencies, such as UNHCR, to provide care and programs that would help the victims earn money “because rape survivors are alienated from their family and therefore have no way to sustain themselves,” Ms. Susskind says.
But so far, these resources are not available for most Iraqi rape victims in Jordan. There are no support groups, no counselors, no hot lines, an no one to soothe Khalida when she has flashbacks that make her relive the day when assailants dressed in police uniforms arrived at the Oil Ministry where she worked and said they were taking her in for questioning.
She did not tell her husband that she had been raped but he figured it out. Now, Khalida does not blame him for going away, or for leaving her so vulnerable to men who wish to prey on her.
“I have his phone number,” she says, sobbing quietly. “I dial it sometimes for the kids to talk to their father. Sometimes, because I love him, I like to hear his voice. But when I say ‘hello’ he hangs up.”
Author: Wameeth (Iraq), Mideast Youth
This is a report by Anna Badkhen, a correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, who highlights the sort of news that has too often gone unreported. I felt it was important to also share here for the sake of awareness:
Many rape victims have escaped to Jordan but still don’t have access to treatment and counseling.
AMMAN, JORDAN - As though recoiling from her own memories, Khalida shrank deeper into her faded armchair with each sentence she told: of how gunmen apparently working for Iraq’s Interior Ministry kidnapped her, beat and raped her; of how they discarded her on a Baghdad sidewalk.
But her suffering did not end when she fled Iraq and became a refugee in Jordan’s capital, Amman. When Khalida’s husband learned that she had been raped, he abandoned her and their two young sons.
Rumors spread fast in Amman; soon, everyone on her block knew that she was without a man in the house. Last month, her Jordanian neighbor barged into her apartment and attempted to rape her.
Khalida never reported the incident. Like tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Jordan, she does not have a permit to live or work here, and she is afraid that if she turns to authorities for help she will get deported. So instead of seeking punishment for her assailant, she latched the flimsy metal door of her apartment and stopped going outside.
Her story sheds light on a problem that is little researched, poorly understood, and largely ignored: Iraqi rape victims who now live in Jordan illegally and without protection. Sexual assault is heavily stigmatized in the Middle East, and victims are often afraid to talk about it to anyone, fearing that their families will abandon them. And their shaky status in Jordan leaves them afraid to seek help and vulnerable to new assaults and abuse. They fear persecution by Jordanian immigration authorities almost as much as they fear returning to Iraq.
“The lack of legal status does lead to these sorts of protection issues [and] puts them in very exploitative situations,” says Imran Riza, who heads the mission in Jordan of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the main international agency that assists Iraqis in Jordan. Women like Khalida, he says, “are certainly vulnerable, and much more vulnerable than others.”
Rape is a common weapon of any war; no one knows how many Iraqi women have been raped since the war began in 2003. Most crimes against women “are not reported because of stigma, fear of retaliation, or lack of confidence in the police,” MADRE, an international women’s rights group, wrote in its 2007 report about violence against women in Iraq. Some women, like Khalida, are raped by Iraqi security forces. A 2005 report published by the Iraqi National Association for Human Rights found that women held in Interior Ministry detention centers endure “systematic rape by the investigators.”
A handful of organizations are working to help rape victims in Iraq. MADRE, together with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, operates several shelters and safe houses in Baghdad for Iraqi rape victims, where the women have access to healthcare and counseling.
But militias often target women’s rights advocates in Iraq, so these facilities are “a clandestine network,” operated by “mostly somebody who at a great risk to themselves has opened a room for these victims,” says Yifat Susskind, MADRE’s communications director. The shelters have helped several thousand Iraqi women since 2003. Most rape victims learn about the shelters from other women.
Documenting sexual assault in Iraq by international researchers remains complicated because of widespread violence. “There’s been a security issue, so we haven’t been able to get people on the ground to look at the issue for a long time,” says Marianne Mollmann, who leads women’s rights advocacy at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which published its last report about rape in Iraq in 2003.
Similarly, no one has tried to estimate how many Iraqi refugees have been raped while in Iraq or in Jordan, says Mohamad Habashneh, a Jordanian psychiatrist who works with Iraqi rape victims.
Mr. Habashneh has treated approximately 40 Iraqi rape victims for clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But he estimates that they are just a fraction of Iraqi refugees who had been raped.
Psychiatrists like Habashneh charge between $25 and $40 per visit, too expensive for most Iraqi refugees, who, like Khalida, live hand-to-mouth on monthly handouts of about $100 from international agencies.
Many victims are afraid to go outside or travel to a clinic out of fear of being detained by Jordanian authorities.
To help these women, women’s rights organizations in Jordan must coordinate with larger agencies, such as UNHCR, to provide care and programs that would help the victims earn money “because rape survivors are alienated from their family and therefore have no way to sustain themselves,” Ms. Susskind says.
But so far, these resources are not available for most Iraqi rape victims in Jordan. There are no support groups, no counselors, no hot lines, an no one to soothe Khalida when she has flashbacks that make her relive the day when assailants dressed in police uniforms arrived at the Oil Ministry where she worked and said they were taking her in for questioning.
She did not tell her husband that she had been raped but he figured it out. Now, Khalida does not blame him for going away, or for leaving her so vulnerable to men who wish to prey on her.
“I have his phone number,” she says, sobbing quietly. “I dial it sometimes for the kids to talk to their father. Sometimes, because I love him, I like to hear his voice. But when I say ‘hello’ he hangs up.”
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