The law to protect women from violence on the agenda of the House meeting of April 1st and a court sentences capital punishment for the murder of Manal 3assi

Pressures by civil society and the media to include the law to protect women from family violence on the agenda of the House have finally borne fruit as the law has been included as item 9 on a 70 item agenda for the parliament convening of 1, 2 and 3 April 2014 called for by the Speaker of the House Nabih Berry.  Another major development is the court rule yesterday by Judge Fouad Mourad sentencing the accused of murdering his wife Manal Assi to capital punishment.  According to Al Akhbar newspaper, this important development is a positive indication on how the judiciary should deal with crimes of violence against women especially given the skepticism that followed the release of the killer of Roula Yaakoub.
Public pressure in support of the law to protect women from violence had intensified recently particularly by Kafa who has called for a sit in on April 1st at the Solh Square in order to accompany the discussions of the law by Parliament and demand its endorsement.  In addition, 280 Faculty members of the American University of Beirut had addressed an open letter to the Speaker of the House read by Dr. Leila Dagher demanding the endorsement of the law during the sit in organized by faculty and students at AUB.  The letter calls on the Parliament to take the necessary to refer to justice all perpetrators of violence against women and children as well as declare its commitment to the dignity of women and children.  
Kafa for its part called for an endorsement of the law that protects women and children from family violence but not in its present form and for the criminalization of marital rape by abolishing the concept of marital sexual duties. Kafa also rejected the attempt to transmit penalties section to the Penal Code, and called for the law to address women’s concern and not the family generally. It is to be recalled that the national alliance for the legislation of the law to protect women from domestic violence of which Kafa is a leading organisation calls for the criminalization of the act of rape itself, and not only the harm resulting from it. The Alliance also considers that the protection law “should include all of those existing or residing with the woman at the time of violence, including children, since in this case, they are prone to violence or witness it, without undoing the declared juvenile protection law”.
Within the same vein, the movement of independent Lebanese women activists issued a statement to all civil society activists, as well as to the media, political parties and heads of religious confessions to pressure for the endorsement of the law to protect women as well as allocate air time on TVs and Radios to vote for the law.  The coordinator of the movement, Ruwayda Mroueh, said that if the MPs form the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) whose leader, Walid Jumblatt, publicly endorsed the law would actually sign it, then the total signatories would add to 71 out of a total of 128 MPs which would allow the law to pass without any changes.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Nahar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal 28 March 2014