In January and February 2022, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) documented seven female homicides cases, including the murder of a young girl. Six of the recorded murders took place within the government-held provinces of Damascus, Damascus\u2019s countryside, As Suwayda, Tartus and Aleppo, while the seventh was reported in Al-Hasakah, which falls under the Autonomous Administration\u2019s control. The Syrian government arrested and prosecuted five of the six perpetrators of the crimes committed in the areas under its control; however, the murderer in As Suwayda escaped justice.<\/p>\n
On the evening of Monday, 10 January 2022, a horrific murder occurred in the village of Smeid in Ariqa district in As Suwayda by Y. Masoud, 40, against his daughters Wiam, 18, and Mariam, 16. Y. Masoud shot his two daughters then fled. He remains at large. Local sources confirmed that the government has not taken any serious action towards solving the crime, which is being called \u201chonor-related\u201d, allowing the perpetrator to escape justice.<\/p>\n
A relative of the two victims told STJ that the two young women were mothers \u2014 Wiam had two children, Mariam had one child. Wiam and Mariam\u2019s father killed them in his home while they visited him. The relative recounted:<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Monday evening we heard gunshots and cries of children from the home of Y. Masoud. A few minutes later, we saw Y. Masoud leaving home and he was completely calm. Then, some neighbors rushed into Masoud\u2019s home and found Mariam and Wiam shot. Mariam was dead but Wiam was not, so was taken to the National Hospital in As Suwayda. However, she died when she arrived at the hospital from the gunshot wound in her head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relatives of the father tried to justify his crime by claiming that it occurred by mistake while he was cleaning his gun. The relative continued:<\/p>\n
\u201cIronically, some relatives of the two victims sympathize with the killer. This was especially true following unfounded rumors that the crime was committed for the sake of honor, which is the pretext used to justify every crime in As Suwayda to secure impunity for the perpetrators. What is worse is that the killer has not been arrested yet \u2014 his relatives are hiding him. The father killed his daughters twice. The first time when he married them off when they were only 15, and the second time when he shot them, leaving their children motherless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the crime was widely condemned in As Suwayda, witnesses claim that Syrian authorities have not investigated the crime thoroughly. The only action taken was to send a magistrate to examine the crime scene.\u00a0 A local source confirmed to STJ that no lawsuit or public prosecutorial complaint has been filed against the killer. Therefore, if he surrenders himself or is captured, he will be judged for the public right only and the sentence will likely be lightened or abolished by presidential amnesty.<\/p>\n
The Syrian Government\u2019s Ministry of Interior stated<\/a> on its Facebook official page that Maryam and Wiam were killed by their father because they refused to help him with farm work.<\/p>\n On 8 January 2022, in the western neighborhood in the village of Al Ghuzlaniyah of Damascus\u2019s countryside, a young man, Ayoub, attempted to rape his 11-year-old sister, Amal. However, when the victim tried to escape, her brother stabbed her to death and then burned her body.<\/p>\n Syrian authorities arrested Ayoub, who confessed his crime. The Syrian Ministry of Interior published<\/a> a video<\/a> that showed Ayoub\u2019s confessions and revealed the circumstances of the incident. Meanwhile, Amal\u2019s body was taken to Al Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus, where it underwent forensic-medical examination which reported signs of a sexual assault.<\/p>\n Ayoub recounted in the published video that he molested his sister and when she refrained, he stabbed her. Amal tried to escape towards the bathroom but he followed her and stabbed her multiple times in the back and neck, killing her. To conceal his crime, Ayoub poured fuel on his sister\u2019s body and burned her, then he washed the knife and left home.<\/p>\n On 13 January 2022, locals of Dweir al-Shaykh Saad village in Tartus reported a murder of a woman to the relevant authorities. In turn, the Ministry of Interior posted<\/a> on Facebook details of an incident claiming that a woman called Sawsan Mansour was found killed in her home, with multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest. She was taken to Al-Basel Hospital in Tartus. Reportedly, Sawsan was killed by her nephew, but the investigation is still ongoing.<\/p>\n On 6 February 2022, Wafa\u2019 A. was found poisoned in her home in Al-Sabil neighborhood in Aleppo. On this incident, the Syrian Ministry of Interior stated in a post<\/a> on its official Facebook page that Wafa\u2019 was killed by her daughter, Hiba, with the help of a friend called Eman and the victim\u2019s driver, Ahmed. Hiba decided to kill her mother following a dispute she had with her. Eman bought Hiba the poison and Ahmed put it in a drink the victim was having, and then he suffocated her using a pillow. After their crime, the perpetrators stole the victim\u2019s gold jewelry and hid them in Eman\u2019s home. The Ministry of Interior confirmed that the perpetrators were arrested and duly prosecuted.<\/p>\n On New Year’s Eve, a heinous\u00a0crime occurred in Damascus\u2019s Al Moujtahed neighborhood against a 19-year-old woman, Ayat Al-Rifai. Ayat\u2019s husbands and his parents beat her severely on the head until she lost consciousness. Without medical attention, she died after an hour and a half in her room. On 4 January 2022, the Ministry of Interior in the Syrian government published<\/a> details of Ayat\u2019s killing on its official Facebook page. In addition, several media outlets reported<\/a> the crime and the hashtag #the_right_of_Ayat_ Al-Rifai was widely circulated on social media. The Syrian authorities arrested the perpetrators and brought them to justice.<\/p>\n On January 2022, locals of Mujarjah al-Khanat al-Gharbi village, located near al-Hasakah city, reported a crime to the internal security forces, or the Asayish. The victim of the crime was Fatima Hussein al-Sweedan, 44, who hails from Salamiyah city in Hama. Ghareeb al-Najem, Fatima\u2019s husband, and his brother killed Fatima and secretly buried her. However, neighbors discovered the crime and informed the authorities.<\/p>\n In the course of the investigation, Ghareeb and his brother confessed to killing and burying Fatima. Ghareeb gave several reasons for Fatima\u2019s death. \u00a0Initially, he told them that she died of Covid-19, then he claimed she died of food poisoning. However, the Asayish took Fatima\u2019s body to Al-Sha’ab Hospital in al-Hasakah and the forensic examination revealed<\/a> that Fatima\u2019s death was caused by severe blows with a hard object on her head and body. Reportedly<\/a>, the victim, Fatima, had previously filed several domestic violence complaints against her husband to Dar al-Mara\u2019a in al-Hasakah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In January and February 2022, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) documented seven female homicides cases, including the murder of a young girl. Six of the recorded murders took place…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":16005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[374,1],"tags":[433,964,190,43,23,475,965,68,172,828,962,764,963,762],"class_list":["post-16010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-picks","category-human-rights-journalism","tag-honor-killing","tag-amal","tag-Damascus-Countryside","tag-Extrajudicial-Executions","tag-internally-displaced-idps","tag-northeast-syria-nes","tag-sawsan-mansour","tag-Self-governance-Self-administration-Self-rule","tag-Syria","tag-syrian-government","tag-syrian-women-2","tag-syrian-women","tag-wiam-and-mariam-masoud","tag-womens-rights","post_format-post-format-link"],"yoast_head":"\nA Girl Murdered by Her Brother<\/strong><\/h5>\n
A Woman Murdered by Her Nephew<\/strong><\/h5>\n
A Mother Murdered by Her Daughter<\/strong><\/h5>\n
A Young Wife Murdered by Her Husband and His Parents<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Female Homicides in Autonomous Administration -held Areas<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A Wife Murdered by Her Husband<\/strong><\/h5>\n