By Rana Zalghout | Staff Writer
Only a few days before the celebration of International Women’s Day, a gruesome femicide was witnessed on the streets of Tripoli in North Lebanon. Mona Al-Homsi, another victim of gender-based violence, was murdered in broad daylight on February 28th by her ex-husband, retired ISF warrant officer Issa Somaya, in Jabal Mohsen. According to the victim’s family, Mona has been struggling with gender-based violence at the hands of her ex-husband for over 18 years.
In fact, Mona tried for the past 3 years to get a divorce and gain custody of her three children, but the Shiite Ja’fari Court failed to free and protect Mona from her abuser. Due to the power and money of her ex-husband’s family and the Shiite/Alawite court’s appeal to patriarchal family values, Mona could not receive any legal help that permitted her to live safely and gain her right to see her children.
According to Nabil Al-Homsi, Mona’s brother, it was only recently that she finally won the court case and officially divorced her abuser. Unfortunately, after years of struggling before the abuse and the religious courts, Mona could not enjoy her victory. Somaya decided to “take revenge”, which he had previously mentioned in one of his threatening Facebook posts. On February 28th, the murderer stayed in his car near Mona’s family’s house whereby he kept on watching the entrance door. When Mona left the house, he shot her multiple times using a hunting weapon, uncaring of being seen by passersby. Right after the horrible incident, the residents of the town chased after Somaya and attacked him.
When are we going to witness a time when women in Lebanon feel safe and protected? When will the religious courts start looking more into the divorce and custody cases, instead of blatantly ignoring women’s rights and standing alongside misogynistic men? When will women feel secure by the government and laws?
Unfortunately, women’s rights seem to not be a priority in Lebanon for now. In fact, the Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar called on the UN to reevaluate its priorities in which he asserted that “now is not the right time to advocate for women’s rights or protect their basic rights, the only priority is to solve the economic crisis”.
With the existing unjust conventions in the religious courts and authorities who turn a blind eye to the face of gender-based violence, Lebanon seems to be stuck in the cycle of oppressing women and marginalizing them. However, with the upcoming International Women’s Day on March 8th, it is a reminder to all Lebanese people to speak up on such matters and continue to advocate for women’s rights.