Physical violence
Physical violence may be defined as bodily harm ranging from slapping to rape. It can have lasting effects on children, who later develop depression or, in their turn, aggressive behaviour as adults. This situation produces a vicious circle of violence where the victim of aggression becomes the aggressor.
In Lebanon, women are more and more frequently victims of this kind of aggression. In this discussion we are going to tell the stories of some tragic incidents of physical domestic violence carried out under the pretext of religious honour. According to a study by the organisation Kafa[1] in 2010, financed by OXFAM[2] , women (from a sample of 18- year- olds and older) are assaulted by men in 96% of cases.
Christelle Abou Chacra, a Christian, was maltreated and beaten by her husband, who threatened to kill her and her child. In February 2014 Christelle died at the age of 31, poisoned by Demol [a dispersant] in unexplained circumstances. The family of the young woman accused the husband of having poisoned her and her mother took out a civil suit against him. The husband was arrested and questioned, then freed. A year before her death, Christelle Abou Chacra had requested legal advice from Kafa “in order to inform herself on the procedures of religious tribunals with regard to her child,” but she did not return, explained Leila Awada, lawyer and member of Kafa (interview with the francophone daily L'Orient -Le Jour). As there had been an inquest to determine the causes of death, Kafa proposed to Christelle Abou Chacra's family that they hunt down the court file. Amongst Christians, violence within the family is not tolerated for any reason. But, even in the case of mistreatment or adultery, the Christian religious leaders ask for tolerance and forgiveness rather than divorce, which remains strictly forbidden.
Maymouné Ahmad Abou Aayla, a Muslim, was found dead in the conjugal home. Aged 20, the victim had a wound on the neck and bruises on the back of her head produced by blows with a blunt instrument. The principal suspect was her husband. Arrested by the police, he escaped the death penalty after the judge referred to Article 562 in relation to “honour crimes”, relying on Article 252 of the penal code, which stipulates that a “non premeditated crime” by a husband who believes that he has been betrayed by his wife is “excused, being the result of a loss of temper provoked by an unjust, grave and dangerous act on the part of the victim”. In the case, the inquest revealed that the crime was supposed to have been committed five years after the discovery of his wife's infidelity.
Women's support organisations have constantly contested these verdicts which justify domestic violence against women under the heading of “honour crimes”. Kafa have reported on a number of cases of domestic violence as serious as those of Christelle and Maymouné. Women being killed by their husbands followed by judgements granting clemency have provoked an outcry in civil society and on social networks. Up until 2017, Lebanese law has not changed on this front, despite repeated demands. The relationship between religiously inspired violence on the one hand, and how violent acts are dealt with on the other, is barely discussed. If there is a reason, this is generally put down to “custom”, “inherited traditions”, to “patriarchal ideology”, or “cultural stereotypes”, but never is reference made to religion.
