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Jordan Fatwa Bans 'Virginity Checks'

August 3, 2009

The Media Line Staff

A Jordanian institute has issued a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, banning the practice of pre-marital virginity examinations for women.

The Jordanian Committee of Religious Decrees and Islamic Studies said that such examinations were haram, or prohibited under Islamic law, Al-Arabiyya reported.

The fatwa said such examinations were a form of abuse against women.

"We view this practice as a degrading treatment for women and one which violates women's rights to physical integrity and privacy," Nadya Khalife, a women's rights researcher with Human Rights Watch told The Media Line. "I'm happy to note that the Council finds this practice humiliating," she said, adding that the rights group also sees the practice as inherently discriminatory. "It's definitely a step in the right direction."   Last month Mumin Al-Hadidi, the head of Jordan's National Center for Forensic Medicine, said he conducted around 150 "virginity examinations" a year and said the checks were usually conducted on young women who are about to get married.

The edict still allows for virginity checks to take place if requested by the judiciary system.

Al-Hadidi said he did not advise subjecting women to virginity examinations unless it was in order to confirm or refute a suspicion of rape.

"It's reached the situation where many people won't get married unless they are certain the women's hymen is intact," he said.

"I'm against checking a woman's virginity before marriage, because it damages the women's dignity and casts doubt on her honor."

Virginity checks aim to rule out the possibility that the woman has engaged in sexual relations with another man, which can be a marriage breaker.

Pre-marital sex is frowned upon in Jordan, and in some cases, women caught or even suspected of sexual relations outside of wedlock are killed by male family members, on grounds that they tainted the family reputation.

Such 'honor killings' take the lives of around 20 women in Jordan each year. Victims of honor killings can also include women who have extra-marital affairs or have been raped.

Perpetrators often face mitigated punishments, if at all.

As of August 1, Jordan is operating a newly established tribunal that will focus exclusively on suspected perpetrators of honor crimes, in an effort to speed up the legal process and bring killers to justice.

 





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