University Dean Supports Honour Crimes

A dean at Damascus University has come out in defence of so-called “honour crimes”, and said that anyone who calls for changing the current law should leave Syria.



Women’s activist Bassam al-Qadi reported the news on the independent Women of Syria website on September 16. Qadi said that Mohammed Hasan al-Bugha, dean of the university’s Sharia Faculty, asserted that honour crimes are in line with Islamic law and should not be opposed.



Al-Qadi accused Bugha of inciting violence by defending honour crimes and by calling for critics of the practice to be thrown out of the country. He maintained that Bugha’s argument was not in line with Islam and was not supported by other religious scholars.



Men who injure or kill female relatives are given light sentences under Syrian law if the assault is deemed to be a reponse to women engaging in "illegitimate sexual acts" or in a "suspicious state” with another person.



Women’s rights activists in Syria have called for the law to be overturned. Syria's top Sunni cleric, grand mufti sheikh Ahmad Hassoun, has said that honour crimes are not sanctioned by Islam.