04-10-2006, 09:40 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Father Arrested for Brutal Murder of Nine-Year-Old Daughter in Makkah
Maha Akeel, Arab News
JEDDAH, 10 April 2006 â A man and his wife are being held by Makkah authorities in connection with the fatal stabbing of his nine-year-old daughter. Local newspapers reported the murder a few days ago and said that the father will record his confession in court. According to initial police reports he will tell the court that he did not intend to kill his daughter but only to discipline her.
....................................
A few days before the incident, the biological mother had sent a letter to the Makkah municipality begging the governor to intervene before the father killed the girl, but it was too late. Neither her school nor the neighbors tried to help the girl even though they must have seen the bruises and heard her cries.
...................
<b>A major problem is that the rights of the parents are granted priority over the rights of the child. The father, who is more often the perpetrator of domestic abuse, is also favored under the current system in accordance with social norms</b>.
Intervention by authorities is virtually nonexistent. <b>Police do not have the authority to enter homes and bring abused children under public protection. A legal guardianâs permission is required to medically treat children, and, according to law, wives cannot report domestic abuse by husbands to the police.</b>
Social workers, school teachers (who often are the first outside the family to observe signs of abuse) and family members aware of abused children have been asking for proper laws and procedures that would enable them and the police to take action before it is too late.
In the case of the nine-year-old victim in Makkah, it remains to be seen if the girl will get justice posthumously.
<b>According to Islamic law, a father who kills his child is not eligible for the death penalty,</b> but exemptions are made by the state in particularly egregious cases.
Depending on the circumstances of this case, the father is likely to serve a jail sentence of a number of years if heâs found guilty. <b>The mother may receive monetary compensation for the death of her daughter.</b>
www.arabnews.com/?page=1§...m=4&y=2006 <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maha Akeel, Arab News
JEDDAH, 10 April 2006 â A man and his wife are being held by Makkah authorities in connection with the fatal stabbing of his nine-year-old daughter. Local newspapers reported the murder a few days ago and said that the father will record his confession in court. According to initial police reports he will tell the court that he did not intend to kill his daughter but only to discipline her.
....................................
A few days before the incident, the biological mother had sent a letter to the Makkah municipality begging the governor to intervene before the father killed the girl, but it was too late. Neither her school nor the neighbors tried to help the girl even though they must have seen the bruises and heard her cries.
...................
<b>A major problem is that the rights of the parents are granted priority over the rights of the child. The father, who is more often the perpetrator of domestic abuse, is also favored under the current system in accordance with social norms</b>.
Intervention by authorities is virtually nonexistent. <b>Police do not have the authority to enter homes and bring abused children under public protection. A legal guardianâs permission is required to medically treat children, and, according to law, wives cannot report domestic abuse by husbands to the police.</b>
Social workers, school teachers (who often are the first outside the family to observe signs of abuse) and family members aware of abused children have been asking for proper laws and procedures that would enable them and the police to take action before it is too late.
In the case of the nine-year-old victim in Makkah, it remains to be seen if the girl will get justice posthumously.
<b>According to Islamic law, a father who kills his child is not eligible for the death penalty,</b> but exemptions are made by the state in particularly egregious cases.
Depending on the circumstances of this case, the father is likely to serve a jail sentence of a number of years if heâs found guilty. <b>The mother may receive monetary compensation for the death of her daughter.</b>
www.arabnews.com/?page=1§...m=4&y=2006 <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->