The constitutionality of reducing the penalty for perpetrators of honor killings

Abstract

The texts of some legislation grant advantages to men that they do not grant to women, such as granting a man a privilege related to his commission of a crime punishable by law, but the penalty is reduced or he is exempted from it even though the act committed is directed against the woman herself.  This is what is achieved when a man kills his wife or one of his female relatives when he surprises her in the act of adultery, which is what is called in legal jurisprudence the crime of honor killing or dishonor.  Therefore, our research aims to review some of the legislation that robs women of their rights and grants privileges to men at the expense of their lives or human beings, especially after the emergence of jurisprudential trends and demands that call for granting women their full rights and developing Iraqi legislation in line with those demands.

      Therefore, the research focused on examining the legislative texts in the amended Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, which negatively discriminate against women, and then clarifying the extent of their compatibility with the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq of 2005. Accordingly, we addressed the topic in two sections, the first related to the nature of the crime of honor killing in jurisprudence. The judiciary  , Islamic law, and comparative penal legislation, and an explanation of the suitability of the position of the Iraqi criminal legislator with the 2005 Constitution in the second section.  At the conclusion of the research, we concluded that the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq of 2005 has a civil identity, and that Article 409 is an unconstitutional text because it violates the principle of equality and women’s right to life. Therefore, individuals affected by the application of this text can file a lawsuit for its unconstitutionality before the Federal Supreme Court.