Persuasion Speech

LEBANESE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

Beirut, Lebanon

School of Arts & Sciences

Department of English

Fundaments of Oral Communication

(English 203)

There’s No Honor In Killing

Yara Bazzi

201400343

U. Acra

Outline

General topic: Honor Killing

General purpose: To persuade the audience why honor killing is wrong and stupid.

Specific purpose: Persuade my listeners by explaining what honor killing is, why it happens, and what happens to people that commit these crimes and what we can do to stop it.

1. Introduction

A man killed his pregnant teenage sister in south Lebanon, Baghdad Khaled al-Issa, 18, was found with stab wounds in her head and sides in the area of al-Wazzani. She was 7 months pregnant. He had raped his sister, which lead to her pregnancy, and once he found out she was pregnant he told her to abort it, when she said no the brutal killing took place in the name of `Honor Killing’.

Committed in the name of honor? They are crimes, but certainly not of honor; they are against honor, abolishing it from its honorable reference. These killings take place all over the world, although a number of them do happen mostly in Muslim countries. According to the United Nations Population Fund, an estimated five thousand women are victims of so-called honor killings each year. These women are murdered, by family members, for doing things seen as degrading of family honor. Its basically domestic violence and in Lebanon, domestic violence is not explicitly covered by the penal code.  A draft law criminalizing domestic abuse was passed by the former cabinet in May 2010, and is currently under review by a special parliamentary committee. Kafa ( has been working hard over the years to help stop these senseless laws that allow such things to happen.

1. Body

1. Reasons: Reasons would be something as simple as a rumor or suspicion. Family members kill many victims of rape because they got raped. Can you believe that? And the list goes on to victims of incest, financial reasons, just getting a divorce. In some areas, a woman's life is at risk if she talks to a man not being a relative, or refuses to marry someone who was chosen by the family, or marry someone of whom her family does not approve, or marry a man from different religion. In brief, she will be endangering her life if she has done anything to bring social and/or sexual dishonor to herself, which will automatically affect her family's honor. Official statics indicate that the majority of women killed in honor crimes are predominantly teenagers. Most are buried in unmarked graves, disgraced even in death. And no one deserves to go out like that. A 28-year-old man in Akkar, Lebanon’s northernmost district recently murdered his sister, apparently because she had a boyfriend. He dumped her lifeless body in the street, where authorities found it a few days before finding and arresting him.  He admitted shooting her twice in the head to cleanse the family honor.

1. What they do to people that commit honor crimes: Most cases are categorized under other reasons such as suicides or accidents. Their defense lies in the fact that the crime may be committed in a 'fit of fury' or a 'sudden spark of anger'. They allow the court to rule on "manslaughter", rather than "pre-determined" murder-hence, they request a reduced penalty. There is no law that grants a man the right to kill a female relative if she brings shame to the family. However, such killers spend an average of six months to one year in prison. If he is a juvenile, he will be put in one of rehabilitations centers, taking into consideration that this incident of killing a female, will not be filed in his records as a juvenile and by law his records are protected from mentioning such issues. This encourages families to choose a juvenile to do the killing. Article 98 of the Penal Code can reduce the penalty up to six months if the victim's family waives charges against perpetrator who happens to be another family member. On September 6th 2016, 18 and 22-year-old brothers murdered their 16-year-old sister ‘Rawaa al Mohammad` because she ran away and wanted to marry a guy they disapproved of then came back home because family tricked her into thinking they are okay with her marrying him. Stabbed 22 times brothers fully admit it was them who committed this. They were sentenced for 7 months in prison because the family waived charges.

1. Counterargument: "Honor" killing is not only selfishly motivated, but also an attempt to appease God, where none is needed (God needs me to kill this guy/girl/entire identifiable group because he/she/they offend Him).   If you believe in God (which I do), then you should believe He is big enough to not need us to fight His battles. All Scriptures be it the Bible, the Quran etc., you are not supposed to kill anyone. Otherwise you invite misfortunes on yourself.

1. Conclusion

In conclusion now you know that Lebanon doesn’t have such strict rules on this issue and many people don’t report this type of brutal killings as Honor killing but instead say it was a murder. It is true Lebanese courts have been allowing, “honor” to stand as a defense less and less but still sentences can be reduced really easily. Articles of the penal code (193, 252 and 253) allow for crimes committed in certain circumstances – including defending honor and decency provided the criminal is not acting selfishly or for material gain – to receive lenient sentences. Affording only men a legal loophole for murder, a book published by the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women argues, the law contradicts Lebanon’s constitution, which guarantees that “all Lebanese are equal before the law” (Article 7) For the past three years Kafa has been trying to pass a progressive new law criminalizing domestic violence and other forms of abuse against women. The process, however, has been slow. Lebanon should begin collecting statistics on gender-based violence, and encourage men and women to report abuse to help the parliament see that it is a growing issue that should not have any lenient laws for these cruel killings to take place. If you know anyone that has been abused by family or loved ones, let them speak out, let them help Kafa get these senseless laws removed and make this world a safer one for girls to grow up.

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