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Al Mezan Condemns “Honor Killing” in the Gaza Strip and Calls for Justice

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3 January 2017 |Reference 1/2017

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns the killing of a woman in the Gaza Strip that was committed to preserve so-called “family honor”. Al Mezan calls on the authorities to treat all case of killing of women as murder crimes, without seeking extenuating circumstances and prosecute the perpetrators in accord with the law; including those who plan, conspire and perpetrates them.. Al Mezan expresses the hope that 2017 will be a turning point in the achievement of accountability and respect for the rule of law at the internal level, and that perpetrators of 'honor killings' against women will be held to account through an adequate process of law.

 

Al Mezan’s field investigations show that at approximately 4:30 pm on Friday, 30 December 2016, the body of a young women H.N., 24, was found in her brother’s house in the neighborhood of Al Sudaniya, west Biet Lahiya, in the district of North Gaza. Her dead body was admitted to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. According to the forensic examination, H.N. had suffocated. Police opened an investigation into H.N.’s death and detained a number of her relatives for interrogation purposes. The police referenced the protection of family honor as the motive for the killing.

 

Al Mezan expresses deep regret at the death of H.N. and condemns the crime. We also call on the concerned authorities to follow appropriate procedures in order to bring perpetrators to justice and to treat all so-called “honor killings” as the crime of murder, without referencing circumstances concerning tradition, which would refer outside the law. Al Mezan calls on the Palestinian authorities to work towards upholding their obligations under International Human Rights Law, particularly the obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

 

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