Commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It’s Father’s Day and in a few hours my wife and daughter will take good ol’ Dad out for lunch at one of his favorite restaurants. Dad isn’t getting much rest this weekend; he’s working very hard on an incredibly difficult case in which he’s trying to save a worthy client from prison. The old adage “there’s no rest for the wicked” may apply here, and, god knows, Dad was a bit wicked at times during his restless youth.
Whatever wickedness Dad engaged in, however, does not even register on the “Richter scale of evil” when compared to what a father recently did to his sweet-faced 13-year-old daughter in Tunis when he caught her walking home with a boy.
Safa Ben Said of Tunisia Live writes:
A Tunisian man is accused of burning his 13-year-old daughter to death for walking home from school with a male classmate May 28 in Ibn Khaldoun, a suburb of Tunis.
Aya, a middle school student, died on June 7 from fourth-degree burns, Kapitalis and other local news sources reported.
“The father has been arrested since the incident occurred,” Allala Rouhma, a spokesperson for the Tunis Court of First Instance, told Tunisia Live. The father’s name has not been released.
Aya spent nine days in the Ben Arous Hospital for Burns and Injuries before succumbing to her injuries.
Assuming the reports are true, and there’s no compelling reason to believe they are not, we can only react in utmost horror to the despicable act perpetrated by this unnamed father. To view this crime in context, it is essential to realize that along with being an individual crime, this is a cultural crime, a crime that is condoned by portions, probably small, of the society in which poor Aya lived.
Safa Ben Said writes:
Aya’s death has been seen as resulting from an ‘honor crime,’ a killing committed in response to perceived shaming of the family. Such practices are almost unheard of in modern Tunisia.
These crimes target mostly women. Extramarital sex, or even suspicion of it, is a major cause.
Aya’s death shocked the country and sparked an indignant response from many Tunisians.
A group of activists has called for a silent march in Aya’s memory on June 19. The event, which is sponsored on Facebook is named, ‘Aya, Voice of the Victim,’ and calls on Tunisians to participate and denounce her death and the concept of honor killings.
To date, 2,100 people have said they will be attending the march on June 19.
“This act is nothing more than a sign of a sick and suffering society that continues to demonize the female gender,” said the event’s page.
“What happened is strange in our society,” said Feten Abdelkafi, one of the event’s organizers, to Tunisia Live.
“The poor girl was just returning from school with her classmate. I can’t believe that a father could do such a thing to his daughter,” added Ms. Abdelkafi.
Activists are calling for greater media coverage of Aya’s death. With the exception of Opposing Views, in a post written by Kathryn Schroeder, which was posted Saturday, the Western Press has apparently not commented on this atrocity.
“I cannot believe that this case could fall into oblivion. What happened is an unacceptable crime. Further, the reactions of some people who justify this barbaric act reflect the degree of ignorance that prevails in the country,” activist and blogger Lina ben Mhenni wrote in a Facebook post.
The Facebook page, which is called “I Too Was Abused”, was created in solidarity with and to commemorate Aya’s cause. The page has launched a hashtag #moi_aussi_j_ai_été_violentée, French for “I too was abused,” to encourage women to tell their stories and take a stand against all forms of violence.
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The poor child… Based on her photograph, she appears to be sweet and kind, and I can almost guarantee you that all she wanted was to be “normal”. This, however, was apparently not permissible in the eyes and evil heart of her father. I am curious to see what the outcome of this case will be in the Tunisian court. If this had happened in the States, he would almost certainly receive life in prison, and it would be much-deserved. My heart – scarred though it is – goes out to the child Aya and all victims of culturally-based hatred, and hate crimes, of any kind.