Justice for Jassi?

On June 8, 2000, 24-year-old Jaswinder (Jassi) Sidhu was riding through the streets of Punjab, India with her husband, Mithu. They were relative newlyweds having been married only a year before. Jassi and Mithu met in 1995 when Jassi visited India with her family. They secretly married in March 1999 when her family returned to India, knowing that her family would not approve of the match because she came from a wealthy family and he was a poor rickshaw driver.

Jassi and Mithu

That fateful night in June 2000, they were ambushed by a group of men wielding swords and sharpened field hockey sticks. Mithu was seriously injured in the attack and left for dead. He was found on the day of the attack and taken to hospital. Jassi’s body was discovered floating in a water-filled irrigation ditch the next day; her throat had been slashed.

Police in India revealed that Jassi’s murder was a contract killing arranged and ordered by her mother and uncle (her mother’s brother) as a so-called “honour killing”. Soon after, eleven men were arrested for Jassi’s murder in India and warrants were issued by Indian police for Jassi’s mother and uncle who were living in Canada. However, Indian police did not have jurisdiction in Canada and Canadian authorities refused to extradite Jassi’s mother and uncle to India so that they could be arrested and tried for her murder.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) originally stated that, though Jassi was a Canadian citizen, they had no jurisdiction over her case since the murder occurred in India. However, once allegations surfaced that the murder was conspired in Canada, things changed. Canadian law states that a murder that is plotted on Canadian soil and perpetrated elsewhere lies in Canadian jurisdiction. Even so, Jassi’s mother and uncle had not been extradited to India or arrested in Canada for Jassi’s murder.

Shock waves emanated from Jassi’s murder in India all the way to her home country half a world away; it rocked the nation to its core. Jassi was a Canadian citizen, born and raised, who had done nothing wrong in the eyes of the people who knew her or the country that bore her. There was utter shock and absolute disbelief that the roots of such a crime, so-called “honour killings”, could have been perpetrated against a Canadian citizen, planned on Canadian soil, and arranged by those who should have protected her.

Eleven Years Later...

By 2005, seven of the men arrested for Jassi’s murder and the attempted murder of Mithu had been convicted for several crimes including murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. Though it has been alleged that Jassi’s uncle was in contact with the man who arranged Jassi’s killing in India, it has been established that Jassi’s mother was the one who gave the order to kill her daughter on the day that Jassi was murdered.

The Indian authorities have been working with the RCMP to build a case for the extradition of Jassi’s mother and uncle since 2004. On January 5, 2012, the Supreme Court of British Columbia finally issued arrest warrants under the Extradition Act for Jassi’s mother and uncle; they were arrested the next day. They made their first court appearance a few days later and were last reported as remaining in custody until their next hearing.

Sadly, Jassi’s case is not as unique as we would hope.  “Honour killings” are far too common, even here in Canada. There have been a number of “honour killings” reported in Canada over the past several years. They include:

Aqsa Parvez

            

Aqsa Parvez, 16 – Aqsa was strangled to death in December, 2007 for not wanting to wear a hijab. Her father and brother were sentenced to life in prison in June, 2010. They are not eligible for parole until 2028.




       

Khatera Sadiqi and, her fiance, Feroz Mangal

Khatera Sadiqi, 20 – Both Khatera and her fiance were shot in her car in September, 2006 because she got engaged without her father’s permission. Her brother was sentenced to life in prison in May, 2009.

Amandeep Atwal, 17 – Amandeep was stabbed 11 times in July, 2003 for moving to live with her boyfriend. Her father was sentenced to life in prison in March, 2005.







Aysar Abbas was stabbed 23 times in the neck and once in the heart in October, 1999 by her husband who believed she was having an affair with her business associate. Her husband was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole for 25 years. He tried to appeal the court’s decision by arguing that he was justified in killing his wife based on Muslim beliefs and “family honour” but the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his appeal and the original sentence was upheld in November, 2006. 

Sahar Shafia and Rona Amir Mohammed

And, as I sit here writing this article, I am watching a news update of a case in Ontario where a couple and their son have been tried for the murder of the couple’s three daughters (Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13) and the husband’s first wife (Rona Amir Mohammad).  Their bodies were found on June 30, 2009 submerged in a canal, inside the family’s car. It is alleged that the Shafia sisters were killed for defying the family’s rules when it came to clothes, dating, and socializing. Rona was infertile and allegedly wanted a divorce. She told immigration authorities that she was a cousin who was helping to raise the family’s children. If her true relationship to the family had been revealed, they could have faced deportation.

The verdict is guilty for all three accused. They have each been convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Only time will tell if Jassi Sidhu will receive the same justice that the other women mentioned have found for the crimes against them. Even so, justice is of little comfort to those who have loved all of these women and insufficient consolation for incomplete lives lost.


By Sandra Dyal

Revolution: The new question mark on women's rights?

Samira is a nine year old girl in post-revolution Egypt who is deeply influenced by her mother’s stories. Her mother was an active participant in the protests that mobilized the revolution and ousted Mubarak from power. Samira turns to her mother and voices a dream which is the hidden aspiration of many Arabic women - 'Mother, when I grow up - I want to become the prime minister of Egypt.' 

Will Samira's dream ever come true? This is a question that is facing several women in these Arabic countries where the recent revolutions and the ensuing rise of the empowered Islamist parties are threatening to consume the rights of women and their contribution in a political capacity. What is promising to pose serious complications for women is the conservative outlook that these parties hold towards women. They contest existing pro-women laws on religious grounds. This brings us to the eternal question - Will the revolution actually erode women's rights rather than improving them? 

While activists hoped that with the ouster of the dictatorship of Mubarak in Egypt and Zine Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, patriarchal customs would recede, women would find a new political stature and that they would active members in the new democracy - recent events promise otherwise.  

Case in point is Egypt, where the post revolution period has shown women being targeted. As early as March last year, on International Women's day, women demonstrators on Tahrir square saw resistance from men who claimed that the women' demands were against Islam. The day after this demonstration, seventeen women were taken to the Egyptian museum where they were verbally and physically abused and given electric shocks. They were later also subject to forced 'virginity tests' which have been condemned by feminists all over. The most recent and insulting of these sexist abuses took place on Dec 17th, when a woman demonstrator was assaulted and dragged across Tahrir square, while the armed forces tried to pull her clothes off, while physically assaulting her.. These appear to be a series of targeted attacks on women to terrorize them and to keep them out of political protests. While women had bravely fought along with men during those eighteen days of uprising last January, their rights are being ignored in the post-revolution period. 

The story is no different when it comes to political elections. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Nour - the conservative Salafi party, though required to have women as their party representatives, have stated that this representation is anti-Islamic. Women's political participation appears to be targeted as the military has decided to eliminate a 64 seat quota that existed in the Mubarak era. 

Another interesting aspect is that a lot of pro-women laws which address issues such as marriage, custody and the like, are being called into question - the argument made is that since they belong to the illegitimate regimes of Mubarak and Ben Ali, they need to be changed.  

Let’s turn to Libya, where on Liberation day, Jalil pledged to uphold Islamic laws , specifically to legalize polygamy. Many women in Libya have expressed resentment towards this - the fact that a man no longer needs to seek written consent from his wife to marry another woman, undermines their dignity. They also feel that there were far more important issues that needed to be addressed on Liberation day rather than polygamy.  

Even Tunisia, where women have historically enjoyed more rights than their counterparts in other countries, seems to have an ambiguous future.. It is unclear what connotation the Islamist party Ennahda's coming to power holds. While Ennahda promises to respect women's rights, many secularists doubt these promises and believe that the party is trying to appease both the progressive voter as well as the conservative thinkers. There have been political debates on previously silenced issues such as polygamy and forcing women to stay at women, but there is a marked absence of women from these debates. What signal does that send? Is it a warning sign that the extent of liberty women have enjoyed in Tunisia is in danger? 

The impact that the Islamist rule will have in each of these three states will be very unique and determined by the culture and political bend of mind of the common populace. There is no better time for activists and feminists to come together and to speak out. 

Given the fluidity of the situation, it is only when each individual voices their opinion that the Arabic woman will be able to boast of sustainable rights in these emerging post-revolution countries - something that will determine their fate not only in the political world but in the society as a whole. Over the last couple of years, women have passionately led public demonstrations, launched social media campaigns and been a significant element in the upheaval of the illegitimate regimes. To sum it up, they have fought to overthrow their dictators, but the question of the hour is - Can they overthrow male dominance?

By Kanika Jain Sah