“The duo have been arrested and referred to Prosecution,” but if they can convince prosecutors that it was an honor killing, they will have little to worry about. In 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values.”
The Palestinian Authority gives pardons or suspended sentences for honor murders. Iraqi women have asked for tougher sentences for Islamic honor murderers, who get off lightly now. Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but “the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour ‘provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.'”
Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that “retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right.” However, “not subject to retaliation” is “a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring.” (‘Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law.
In light of all this, until authorities get the courage to tell the truth about honor killing, there will be many more such murders.
“Skype chat costs daughter her life,” from Emirates 247, November 4 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
A Jordanian teenager was allegedly killed by her own father and brother because they did not approve her of chatting to a stranger on Skype.
According to a report by Saraya news agency, the father-son duo strangled her to death using a scarf at their home in Zarqa Governorate.
The son, however, surrendered to police saying his father had killed his sister.
The duo have been arrested and referred to Prosecution.