A beauty queen is said to have been strangled to death by her husband in Lebanon, as the latest victim in several abuse markets in the country.
The murder of model Zeina Kanjo in Beirut and two other women has sparked outrage, as authorities have uncovered duplication of reports of domestic abuse in a country that recently won praise for new laws to protect women.
Kanjo was reportedly killed at her home by her husband Ibrahim Ghazal, who was charged with murder after fleeing to Turkey, a state-run National News Agency said.
She was killed Sunday afternoon after she lodged a domestic abuse complaint against her husband. They had only been married for a few months.
The murder of model Zeina Kanjo (pictured) and two other women has sparked unrest in Lebanon, as authorities have uncovered reports of domestic abuse in a country that recently won praise for new laws to protect women
Warrant is out for the arrest of Ghazal, who fled the couple’s home in the Ain el-Mraisseh district of Beirut where initial investigations found he killed his wife.
Results from an initial investigation by the Internal Security Forces, led by Beirut’s chief prosecutor, showed that her death was the result of harassment, that she had previously filed a domestic violence case, and that she trying to get a divorce.
Lebanese TV channel Al Jadeed released an audio recording in which Ghazal was heard talking about the death of Kanjo with her sister Ruba.
‘Ask me anything. Anyway, I didn’t want to, I didn’t want her to die, when she was screaming, I put my hand over her mouth. Just as if she were screaming and fighting with me in front of you, Ruba, ‘it is audible to say, according to Middle East Eye.
‘I told her to be quiet and stop crying since it was morning. Would I kill her? ‘
When Ruba continued to press her brother-in-law on her sister’s death, he refused to give a direct response, saying he had notified the police of her death.
A local news channel invited Kanjo’s husband, Ibrahim Ghazal, to share his version of events, sparking anger on social media about what many see as a culture of blaming victims.
‘Lebanese media often helps reinforce the idea that men get away with these crimes,’ said Hayat Mirshad, co-director of Fe-Male, a local women’s group.
‘(Ghazal) said on the show that if he didn’t want to be arrested, he wouldn’t.’
Following reports of her death, social media users posted #ZeinaKanjo (in Arabic) to spread awareness about domestic violence cases facing women in the country.
Kanjo (right) was reportedly killed at her home by her husband Ibrahim Ghazal (left), who was charged with murder after fleeing Turkey, a National News Agency run by him said. the state.
Lebanon banned sexual harassment and reformed the domestic violence law in December but does not criminalize marital rape and personal laws administered by religious courts discriminating against women in cases such as divorce and child custody.
The United Nations has described a global rise in domestic abuse during the coronavirus lockout as a ‘shadow pandemic’, with a spicy economic crisis reducing domestic violence in Lebanon, according to women’s rights groups.
In new figures shared by the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) said reports of domestic violence doubled last year, with 1,468 cases received in the last 12 months. gone, up from 747 in the previous year.
The number of women killed in domestic violence also rose but the actual figure has not yet been finalized, said an ISF official, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The official figures show a similar trend announced by women’s rights group ABAAD, which saw calls to its helpline triple to 4,127 in 2020, up from 1,375 in 2019.
Kanjo (pictured) was killed Sunday afternoon after he previously filed a complaint of domestic abuse. They had only been married for a few months
The second murder was to make headlines this month of a woman in her 50s who was killed by a man who attempted to sexually assault her, the ISF said in a statement, adding to which he had been arrested a confessed teenage male relative.
Widad Hassoun, a middle-aged woman, was found dead in northern Lebanon after being strangled, according to Fe-Male Female Sharika wa Laken’s website.
‘These crimes should not be seen as isolated incidents,’ said Mirshad of Fe-Male.
‘They are part of a series of crimes committed daily against women and girls because of the patriarchal and mental system that justifies these crimes. ‘
Women’s rights activists welcomed Lebanon’s December amendment of their 2014 domestic violence law to include ‘violence’ as a result of ‘marriage’, but local lawyers say it is unclear whether this is applies to women who are separated, leaving a legal gap.
‘We have seen many cases where men separate women after they have been abused’ to escape prosecution in civil courts, said Manal Majed, a lawyer with the Lebanese Women’s Democratic Assembly, a women’s rights group.
‘Women still have little protection from attackers in a position of power over them.’