Yousra's killers walk free

I was really shocked when i read this news :

The Times - September 16, 2006 :

The girl in love who lost her life for a picnic

ONE woman who will not be getting married is Yusra al- Azzam, murdered by self- appointed Hamas religious police for the crime of picnicking on the beach with a man who turned out to be her fiancé.

The 20-year-old was killed in Gaza in April last year after a car full of thugs tried to pull over her vehicle after it left the seashore, and opened fire when it refused to stop.

The killers eventually caught up with her car, beating Ms al-Azzam’s fiancé and his brother. They were later arrested.

Hamas initially denied involvement, but then admitted that the gunmen were members. It quickly disavowed the killing, saying that the gunmen had acted individually.

Honour crimes are common but such random killings are rare, and the death generated much negative publicity.

However, the killers were related to a powerful Gaza clan and were soon released.

With few relying on official courts, the dispute went to traditional religious arbitration and the Mufti of Gaza ordered that the al-Azzams be paid 25,000 Jordanian dinars (£19,000) in “blood money” after judging the death to have been accidental.

He applied the standard yardstick of 4.25kg (150oz) of gold for a dead man and half that for a woman.

In their dilapidated house in Beit Lahiya, Ms al-Azzam’s parents are still bitter but fearful, and are careful to emphasise that the family dispute is closed.

“We are a weak family and cannot act for our rights,” said her father, Jamal, a poor 43-year-old cleaner who complained that while their personal “rights” were taken care of, the Government, then controlled by Fatah, had failed to enforce the public law by jailing the culprits.

Ms al-Azzam’s mother, Suhair, exploded with anger: “We want them to be punished more. But as long as the old men take responsibility for these situations, we can’t do anything.”

Sitting beneath a portrait of his dead daughter on the wall, Mr al-Azzam kept murmuring “it is the will of Allah” as he chose his words carefully, eager not to cause offence to any of the parties.

Also prominent on the wall were portraits of the assassinated Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And, if Yusra's killers walk free, this summer, four women were killed in the Gaza Strip "in the name of hounour" :
Maha Akram El-Hamayda (18 ) in Rafah the 30 June 2006
http://stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=569
Fatheya Kamel Kullab (27) and Amani Kamel Kullab (21) the 13 August in the Sawarha area
http://stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=570
Faiza Eid Abu Sawawin, (35) from al-Hasaina
http://stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=571

An article about this killing (New Zealand Herald, 14 April 2005) :

20-year-old woman shot dead for 'immoral behaviour'

Hamas has mounted a desperate damage-limitation exercise in Gaza after one of its units shot dead an innocent 20-year-old Palestinian woman for "immoral behaviour" as she enjoyed a day out with her future husband.

Horrified residents of Beit Lahia, close to Gaza City, have demanded - so far in vain - that the Islamic armed faction hands over three of the gunmen still at large to the Palestinian Authority after what the victim's family believe was a - tragically unjustified - type of so-called honour killing.

Masked Hamas gunmen shot dead Yusra Azzami in a hail of bullets as she sat in the front passenger seat of her fiance's car after they had forced it to stop. The gunmen then beat up her fiance, Ziad Zaranda, and his brother, Rami, before making their escape in the victims' car.

Nusra's terrified sister, Magdelen, who was engaged to Rami, managed to run away before she was also beaten.

Two senior officials from Hamas, which has admitted that its members killed the woman, were turned away by her grief-stricken family this week when they visited to present their condolences.

Both sisters and brothers were to be married this weekend in a joint ceremony.

The killing casts a stark spotlight on the chronic - and in the view of some residents deteriorating - weakness of law and order in the Strip. But it may also do serious harm to Hamas' campaign in a series of municipal elections in Gaza next month, including in Beit Lahia itself.

A Hamas spokesman said yesterday that the killing was carried out because there was a - mistaken - "suspicion of immoral behaviour" by the couples.

It was not clear yesterday whether inter-factional rivalry also played a part because Yusra was a Hamas member at the Islamic university but her fiance was in Fatah.

Other factions have been quick to condemn the killing, and gunfire was exchanged between Hamas and Fatah at Yusra's funeral. Hamas provoked outrage among some local residents by claiming her as one of its "martyrs".

The faction, which seeks to enforce the strictest Islamic codes on alcohol consumption and pre-marital contact, has issued leaflets in the town saying the killing was a mistake and promising to punish the culprits.

Both couples had exchanged marriage certificates after their betrothal. Although they were not yet living together - in accordance with Palestinian custom - they were married according to strict Islamic law.