Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

100 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 1:95
larly named Saudi agency, and the Islamic Republic of Iran has its own
version of religious police (Arabic, mutaween). One of the worst cases of
mutaween abuse occurred in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2002,
when members of the Saudi religious police prevented schoolgirls from
leaving their burning school building because they were not wearing headscarves
and black robes and were not escorted by a male guardian. Fifteen
girls died and fifty were injured in the incident. 24
Other examples of gender control include so-called “honor-killings.”
In April 2001, a representative of Human Rights Watch took note of this
phenomenon before the UN Commission on Human Rights:
Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male
family members against female family members who are perceived to
have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by her
family for a variety of reasons including, refusing to enter into an
arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a
divorce—even from an abusive husband—or committing adultery. The
mere perception that a woman has acted in a manner to bring “dishonor”
to the family is sufficient to trigger an attack.
The ramifications for women of this impunity are significant. For
example, a woman in an abusive marriage must make the choice of staying
in the marriage, hoping that the violence will end, or leaving the
marriage, hoping that neither her husband nor any male relatives will kill
her. A woman who is raped, even if she can prove that she was the victim,
may be killed by her husband, father, son, brother or cousin. 25
Honor killings can thus be seen as an attempt to erase the stigma of shame
from a family by eliminating the allegedly offending member. No recon-
stan can be found at http://www.rawa.org/rules.htm. On gender discrimination by
the Taliban, see Ahmad Raschid, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism
in Central Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 105-116; see also
“Humanity Denied: Systematic Violations of Women’s Rights in Afghanistan,”
Human Rights Watch 13, no. 5 (Oct. 2001), http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/
afghan3/.
24. “15 girls die as zealots ‘drive them into blaze,’” Daily Telegraph, March 15,
2002, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/
1387874/15-girls-die-as-zealots-drive-them-into-blaze.html; see also “Saudi police
‘stopped’ fire rescue,” BBC News, March 15, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm.
25. “Violence against Women and ‘Honor’ Crimes,” Human Rights News (April
2001), http://hrw.org/english/docs/2001/04/06/global268.htm (accessed August 31,
2008); see also James Emery, “‘Reputation is Everything’: Honor Killings Among
the Palestinians,” The World and I Online, May 2003, http://www.worldandi.com/
newhome/public/2003/may/clpub.asp.