hospital worker filed a sexual harassment com-
plaint in 2002, and a hospital disciplinary board
swiftly convened against her. Political police sur-
rounded the hospital and threatened the com-
plainant and her attorneys with rape (OMCT 2002).
Arab women experience and complain of harass-
ment in the streets and public areas. Penal or civil
codes prohibit lewd behavior but are infrequently
enforced.Illegitimacy
The fear of violence from a female’s family often
prevents the birth of illegitmate children. In cases of
such births, subterfuge or infanticide are usual, or
informal adoption. In Morocco, a woman may be
imprisoned for six months for bearing a child out
of wedlock. Child abandonment is illegal although
it does occur and is the reason for the existence of
most state and private orphanages. If women kill
their own children, sentences vary; in Jordan, a
woman can receive a sentence of 5 to 10 years, but,
as in Sudan and elsewhere, judges might reduce the
sentence in such a case.Abortion and new reproductive
technologies (NRTs)
Tunisia liberalized its abortion law by greatly
broadening the substantiating groups for obtaining
the procedure. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and
Libya have criminalized abortion except to save
the mother’s life. In Morocco, Algeria, and Saudi
Arabia, abortion is allowed to save the mother’s life
or preserve her physical or mental health. Sudan
and Iraq allowed abortion in cases of rape and
incest and Qatar permits it in cases of rape and fetal
impairment.
NRTs are criminalized if they involve gamete
donation; the rationale derives from religious prin-
ciple. However, in Lebanon, Shì≠ì jurists have
agreed that couples may use donated eggs.Prostitution, sexual
trafficking, homosexuality
Poverty and tourism fuel the sex industry in Arab
states. Prostitution may be fictionalized as mar-
riage when Arab tourists “marry” young girls in
Egypt and then abandon them. War conditions
caused an increase in prostitution, kidnapping, and
sexual trafficking of women in Iraq. In Saudi
Arabia, Mauritania, Sudan, and Libya the penalties
for zinàapply to prostitution. Elsewhere, prostitu-
tion is punishable by a fine or a prison sentence. It
is legal in Lebanon and Djibouti, although pimping
and coercion are not. Sexual trafficking has not yet
been seriously tackled in the penal codes.404 law: criminal
Homosexuality is illicit according to the Sharì≠a,
contrary to nature and punishable, yet is often tol-
erated. Outside the Gulf states, Sudan, and Libya
penalties include fines and/or prison sentences, and
it is conceived as an offense against public morality.Female genital mutilation
(FGM)
Although the 1946 Sudanese Penal Code prohib-
ited infibulation, while permitting the less radical
sunna circumcision, infibulation has continued. In
1957 and again in 1991, this law was re-ratified,
but FGM is not mentioned in the 1993 Penal Code.
In Egypt, FGM was permitted one day a week
and performed by licensed health professionals
with the rationale that “medicalization” of the
process might save lives. Following a CNN live
exposé of a circumcision, the Egyptian minister of
health banned the practice in state facilities and pri-
vate clinics in 1996. His decision was overturned,
then revalidated in a higher court. The decree is fre-
quently ignored, and some deaths have resulted.
Activists from Arab and African nations called for
specific legislation to address FGM.Battering and domestic
violence
Many Muslims believe that both Islamic law and
custom mandate that women owe men obedience
(†à≠a), proper care of the household, and sexual
favors on demand. A wayward woman was classi-
fied as being nàshizaaccording to the Sharì≠a and a
™adìth recommended remonstration, leaving the
bed of a wife, and then lightly beating her. Liberal
Muslims reject this interpretation.
Most countries penalize battery and assault, but
lack articles that specifically apply to domestic vio-
lence. Moreover, the reduced penalties for honor
crimes apply to batterers. Magistrates appear to
discriminate in sentencing in favor of male batter-
ers (Zulficar 1994, 86–7).Conclusion
Penal codes that discriminate against women vio-
late the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Codes that include whipping, lapidation, and capi-
tal punishment also violate the international prohi-
bitions against torture. The level and efficacy of
legal reform in response to the CEDAW directive
should be a priority for the Arab states, in spite of
opposition.
Equality on the basis of gender is granted consti-
tutionally to most Arab citizens. The disjuncture
between statutory discrimination in the penal codes