Kafa clarifies the merit of the new Memorandum concerning women “fleeing” their households

Following the memorandum which was issued a few days ago by the Acting State Prosecutor at Court of Cassation Judge Samir Hammoud and whereby women who leave their home are now considered “missing” rather than “fugitives”, Kafa’s lawyer Leila Awada noted that this revision was one of the outcomes of the round tables organized by Kafa with the participation of jurists, lawyers and members of the security forces.  Awada highlighted some of the positive aspects of this new memorandum.  Indeed, when women were considered to be “fugitives”, they were subjected to detention and humiliation.  Now, men cannot accuse their wives of being “fugitives” and a report of a missing person will be issued instead.  She noted that the present law does not criminalize the act of women leaving their households but that this was rather a practice.  As such, this memorandum will formalise and correct this practice.

During its roundtable discussions, Kafa insisted that the search warrant for women reported missing can be maintained so as to ensure that these women are alive and safe but they should not be arrested and taken into custody as common criminals.  Hence, an agreement was made to replace the status of fugitive by that of missing.  With this new measure, Awada maintains that the authorities form now on will issue a search warrant for women but will not divulge their whereabouts to their husbands should they be able to find them.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar 24 January 2014