Conference calls for better legal assistance for women charged with murder

AMMAN – Activists on Monday called for better legal services for women who are accused of murder and could eventually get the death penalty.

Around 20 women are awaiting execution in Jordan.

The call came during a one-day national conference on “The death penalty, a future holistic gender responsive view”, that was held online via the Zoom application.

The project is part of a series of activities by a coalition titled “Life”, and is as well part of SIGI’s "Rule of Law and Fair Trials from a Gender Perspective Project", which seeks to oppose and reduce the implementation of the death penalty, from a gender perspective.

The project, which is being implemented by the Solidarity Is Global Institute (SIGI), is supported by the European Union.

“Many women who are on death row do not get the proper legal counselling because their families refrain from appointing a good lawyer to defend them,” SIGI’s Executive President Asma Khader said.

"The court ends up appointing them a lawyer because their charges could land them the death penalty as stipulated in the law", Khader added during the gathering.

Another problem faced by these women, according to Khader, is that their families on many occasions “secure a legal settlement with the victim’s family, which would contribute to decrease the punishment”.

“The base of our effort is to work with our society by tackling the revengeful thinking that would not calm unless someone from the perpetrator’s family is murdered as well,” Khader said.

This means, Khader maintained, that “we cannot apply the rule of law properly if people decide to take revenge on their own”.

Khader pointed out the need to amend the current life sentence in the Jordanian Penal Code to put perpetrators behind bars for the rest of their lives.

“The current life sentence in prison is around 20 to 25 years. It would be best to cancel the death penalty and replace it with imprisonment until the inmate dies of natural causes or sickness,” Khader said.

New evidence reported worldwide shows cases in which people who were sentenced to death or executed were later proven to be innocent, according to Khader.

Addressing the gathering, Counsellor at EU Delegation to Jordan Adam Janssen emphasised the EU’s stand on the death penalty.

“All countries that are members of the EU do not apply the death penalty,” Janssen told the gathering.

In fact, Janssen added, "no country is allowed to be part of the EU if it does not abolish the death penalty”.

“We strongly believe that no state should be allowed to dispose of the life of any human being. This is a serious violation of human dignity and life,” the EU official stressed.

“But if some countries insist on maintaining such a punishment, then we call for a transparent and fair investigation and trials,” Janssen added.

Meanwhile, former Criminal Court Prosecutor Judge Jihad Dureidi pointed out the lack of any studies that prove that “the death penalty was a deterrent factor”.

“We are unaware of any scientific study that proves that the death penalty works as a deterrent for crimes,” Dureidi told the gathering.

The "Life" coalition strives to build a peaceful and secure society by conducting several activities from a gender perspective, to raise awareness about this important topic and work gradually to decrease the offences that are punishable by death, according to the group.

The last time a woman was executed in Jordan was in February 2015, when convict Sajida Rishawi, an Iraqi national, was executed.

Rishawi, 44, was convicted by the State Security Court in September 2006 of plotting terror attacks against three hotels in Amman in November 2005, which left 60 people dead and around 90 injured.

The first woman to receive the death sentence in a terror-related trial in Jordan, Rishawi was convicted of possessing explosives with illicit intent and plotting subversive acts that led to the deaths of individuals.