Sleman Ziad Yonis, the 45-year-old who murdered his 15-year-old child-bride, Dunya, has broken his silence in a video message in which he alleges he had found the teenager in bed with another man, and that his actions had been motivated by “honor.”
The killer, who has been in hiding since the murder last month, appears in the video with a Koran in front of him, on which he appears to take an oath and speaks only in Arabic. He pleads to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), claiming that his actions were justifiable by tribal and religious reasons, due to the circumstances in which he allegedly found his teenage wife.
Under no circumstances is the gruesome mutilation of the child-bride acceptable in Islam or Kurdish tribal custom. But if we were to entertain the notion of honor as it exists within a religious spectrum, we would inevitably come to the understanding that, even within religion where adultery is frowned upon, murder is not justifiable.
In Islam, a judge is required to sentence those accused of adultery with the testimony of four eyewitnesses. The harsh sentencing of an adulterer in most instances is theoretical, because those who commit adultery will not bring four witnesses to watch them commit the act. In theory, the harsh sentencing is supposed to deter adultery, but in reality it is nearly impossible to sentence someone to death because of the evidence-based requirements.
The only reason I mentioned the Islamic paradigm regarding this case is because Sleman wants to rely on religious justifications to get away with murder. Even within religious discourse, his actions are unjustifiable. Not only that, Kurdistan does not operate under tribal laws, nor does the Kurdistan constitution follow this method of sentencing accused adulterers.
It is important for people to not doubt Dunya’s innocence because she is no longer with us to defend herself, and it is our duty to defend her dignity. Sleman is purposely trying to distort the image of an innocent 15-year-old child bride who, according to her own mother, was a victim of domestic violence for the past year. Alongside this, she was murdered in the most gruesome and horrific manner.
Her eyes were gouged out, breasts cut off, genitals mutilated. Her body was tied to a car and dragged around. Nothing justifies this. Honor is not an excuse to murder little girls, and religion does not veil murderers from punishment. We must not be afraid to challenge those who use religious rhetoric as a means of escaping the legal punishment they deserve.
The Kurdish people must ensure that Dunya becomes an example for other women who are victims of domestic violence or those child brides who are looking at the case of Dunya, wondering what would happen to them if they attempted to escape their marriages.
In order to send a clear and strong message to women who are victims of domestic violence, the KRG must disregard claims of adultery made by Sleman, because he should not be the judge of Dunya’s character. His words are worthless. In fact, in his video he inevitably admits that he is the sole person responsible for murdering her. In other words, he has already accepted accountability and is attempting to justify his heinous crime with fallacious claims that can’t be substantiated, because the victim is dead.
I am left to wonder, even if the claims of Sleman are theoretically true, does Dunya really deserve the gruesome ordeal that she went through? She was a child after all, who was sold into marriage. Even if she did commit adultery, she does not deserve to be murdered in this unfair manner. The idea of a 15-year-old, who was subject to domestic abuse, bringing a man into her bedroom seems not only incredibly unlikely but clearly a fabrication to distort the image of Dunya’s innocence.
My concern is no longer Dunya, because she is dead. Instead, the women who are forced to accept abusive marriages and those who have no choice but to endure abusive partners should be our focal concern.
This case sends a distorted message to other women, unless it is dealt with appropriately. It tells other women that if they choose to escape violent marriages they will meet a similar fate to that of Dunya. Unfortunately, it tells a woman that her reputation can be tarnished by the claims of a partner.
In order to illustrate to women in Kurdistan that the law stands on the side of justice -- on their side -- perpetuators of violence must be brought to justice through Kurdistan’s legal system.
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