Murder in the Name of Honor: Violence against Women in Jordan and Pakistan
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MIJUDER IN THE NAME OF HONOR: VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN IN JORDAN AND PAKISTAN*
INTRODUCTION
In 1989, Samia Sarwar, a young girl of seventeen, was
married to her cousin in a match arranged by her family in
Peshawar, North West Frontier Province (NWFP),
Pakistan. During her ten years of marriage, Samia was
repeatedly beaten, kicked, and generally subjected to high
levels of violence.2 After her husband threw her down the
stairs of their home when she was pregnant with their
second child, Samia returned to her parents' home and
announced her intention to seek a divorce.' Instead of
offering to help, her parents allegedly threatened to kill her
because of the shame a broken marriage would bring on the
family.4 On March 26, 1999, when her parents left to
perform the Hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sights in
Saudi Arabia,5 Samia seized the opportunity and fled her
parents' home in Lahore and sought help from the law firm
AGHS.6 While staying in the AGHS-run shelter Dastak7
* 2000 Recipient of the Emory International Law Review Founder's Award for
Excellence in Legal Research and Writing.
' See AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN THE NAME OF
HONOUR 20 (1999) [hereinafter AMNESTY INT'L].
2 See id.; see also Suzanne Goldenberg, A question of honour: A mother and son
were this week jailed for life for the 'honour killing' of a Derby teenager. In Pakistan,
a similar crime has provoked a very different reaction, THE GUARDIAN (London), May
27, 1999, at 6.
3 See AMNESTY INT'L, supra note 1; see also Beena Sarwar, Women's Choices Up
Against Social Controls, INTER PRESS SERVICE, May 6, 1999.
, See AMNESTY INTL, supra note 1. For many families in Pakistan, a dead
daughter is preferable to a divorced one. Shada Islam, Pakistan: Death and
Dishonour: Feudal Code kills women who challenge tradition, FAR E. ECON. REV.,
May 20, 1999, at 28.
5 See Pakistan slaying is question of honor, DESERT NEWS (Salt Lake City,
Utah), July 2, 2000, at A4.
6 See AMNESTY INTL, supra note 1. An acronym composed of the first letters of
the four women lawyers who started the firm-Hina Jilani and her sister Asma](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/emint14&div=43&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Murder in the Name of Honor: Violence against Women in Jordan and Pakistan
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