limb was worth its equivalent but a woman’s life
was worth half that of a man’s. Her reproductive
value was taken into consideration, so in some
areas, in a conflict between two tribes, a dead man’s
tribe could abduct a woman from the other tribe
until she bore a son. Modern states restricted such
practices, as in Section 7 of the Tribal Courts Law
(1936) for Palestine.
Severe penalties such as amputations, or lash-
ings, were imposed rather than imprisonment in
the premodern era. In addition, retaliation often
served to settle inter-clan disputes. ≠Urfand Sharì≠a
law did not attempt to reform criminals; rather,
public punishments were conceptualized as deter-
rent measures.
The worst crimes are those committed against
God, the ™add, which have a fixed punishment, fol-
lowed byqißàß, which may involve retaliation.
Least serious are ta≠zìr, crimes for which a judge
formulates punishment. In the Sharì≠a, murder,
manslaughter, and bodily injury or maiming are
qißàßcrimes. The victim’s family can demand retal-
iation or diya(blood money). The penalty must
represent equivalent harm, and be executed with
the least pain possible. Female victims are entitled
to diyaat half the value of a man’s; since men’s
inheritance was twice that of women’s, the valua-
tion was logical.
In modern law codes, prison terms have replaced
acts of retaliation. Murder sentences should be
equivalent, but in crimes of honor or passion, the
guidance for sentencing varies.
Honor crimes
Honor crimes occur when male family members
kill a woman for a perceived violation of the code
of sexual behavior. Most penal codes exempt or
reduce the sentence if the victim is seen as having
“provoked” the crime. In Jordan, the average sen-
tence for an honor crime is seven and a half months.
Often, families will assign the task of killing sisters
to minor males to mitigate penal sentences.
Modern Penal Codes which blur the distinction
between murder and crimes of honor reinforce the
notion that men have a right to punish women.
Lebanon was the first Arab state to reform the
article in its Penal Code of 1999, which provided
exemptions or sentence reductions for honor
crimes. A similar reform campaign in Jordan has
yet to succeed. Articles permitting extenuating cir-
cumstances, or exemption from penalty, are dis-
criminatory because most countries do not provide
reduction of sentences for women who commit
murder in such situations.
arab states 403Adultery
Under Sharì≠a law, sex is permitted solely within
licit marriage. The crime of zinà(adultery, fornica-
tion) merits lashing for unmarried persons, and lap-
idation for married persons. Such sentences are
uncommon, even in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and
Libya. Under Western-influenced law codes such as
that of Tunisia, women, but not men, could be pun-
ished for adultery prior to 1968. Tunisian law was
subsequently reformed to apply equally to men and
women. The Egyptian Penal Code previously spec-
ified a sentence of not more than two years for an
adulterous woman. A man’s sentence could not
exceed six months, and male adultery was only so
defined if it occurred in the marital home.Rape
In Morocco, in 1993, Hajj Muhammad Mustafa
Thabit testified to rapes of around 500 women over
a period of 13 years and was swiftly executed. The
incident revealed that such crimes occur in Arab
society, contrary to popular discourse. All Arab
states penalize rape, although not marital rape.
Since rape victims may be killed by their families,
the crime is underreported. ≠Urftreats rape as an act
of physical damage and theft of sexual property,
diminishing a virgin’s financial worth. In countries
following the Sharì≠a, penalties are now severe. In
the past, financial compensation might suffice if
jurists found an element of doubt (shubha). Civil
penal codes differentiate between forced rape and
consensual sex, and minor and adult victims, as was
common in Western law as well. Reformers have
protested at the fact that most Arab penal codes do
not charge a rapist with a criminal act if he marries
his victim. This clause was repealed in Egypt in- In Lebanon, torture and gender-based abuse
and rape of imprisoned women was reported
despite penal code articles prohibiting torture.
Incest and sexual abuse
Incest is illegal under Sharì≠a law. Today, penal-
ties range from execution to those less serious than
for rape. Incest and sexual abuse victims are con-
strained by the honor code. Incest carries a sentence
of only three years in Jordan, and a male relative
must register the complaint, not the victim, or a
shelter where she has taken refuge. A Palestinian
women’s center estimated that 75 percent of sexual
assault cases involve close male relatives, with girls
aged between 4 and 13 being most at risk.Sexual abuse and harassment
As legal categories, sexual abuse and harassment
are new concepts. Thus it was news when a Tunisian