Top court refuses to hear whether religion can be a murder defence
Top court refuses to hear whether religion can be a murder defence
Original here
Janice Tibbetts
CanWest News Service
Friday, November 10, 2006
OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada declined an invitation on Thursday to consider whether Muslim cultural and religious beliefs in ''family honour'' should be taken into account as justification for receiving a lighter sentence for killing an unfaithful wife.
The court refused to hear the appeal of Adi Abdul Humaid, a devout Muslim from the United Arab Emirates, who admitted to stabbing Aysar Abbas to death with a steak knife on a visit to Ottawa in 1999.
In an application filed in the Supreme Court, Humaid's lawyer, Richard Bosada, argued Humaid was provoked by his wife's claim she cheated on him, an insult so severe in the Muslim faith it deprived him of self-control.
The concept of ''family honour'' in the Muslim culture means a man is disgraced if his wife has an affair, said the application.
Humaid was convicted of first-degree murder and lost his appeal at the Ontario Court of Appeal, which concluded his defence lacked an ''air of reality.''
The Supreme Court, by convention, did not give reasons for refusing to consider the case, but it normally only takes on appeals it considers to be of national importance.
Under Canadian law, a rarely used, controversial defence called provocation can allow intentional killings to be reduced to the lesser crime of manslaughter if the accused proves the crime was committed in the heat of passion arising from a ''wrongful act or insult'' that would cause an ordinary person to lose control.
Bosada said the high court should take on the case to provide guidance to lower courts ''in this multi-cultural Canadian society.''
Humaid contends his Muslim beliefs should be a factor because he killed his wife after she hinted she was having an affair with a business associate.
Abbas was 46 years old when she died of 23 stab wounds to the throat in the fall of 1999, while she and her husband were visiting their son at the University of Ottawa.
Humaid testified at his trial he blacked out after hearing his wife's confession and he lost all self-control.
The Ontario Crown, in a Supreme Court court submission, maintains the murder was pre-meditated and Humaid, who had an affair with the family maid, wanted out of his marriage. Humaid also stood to gain financially from the death of his wife, a successful engineer who controlled most of the family wealth.
After having an affair himself, Humaid's argument that he deserves a lighter sentence because he was provoked by his wife's insult ''is irreconcilable with the principal of gender equality'' enshrined in the Charter of Rights, says the Crown's submission.
An American scholar, Mahmoud Mustafa Ayoub, testified at Humaid's trial that many Islamic societies permit men to punish wives suspected of adultery and sometimes even kill them. Under Islamic law, punishment for adultery is usually flogging or stoning, Ayoub said. In some Muslim cultures and rural areas, unfaithful women can be killed.
But Ayoub acknowledged under cross-examination that Muslims in Canada should not be able to take the law into their own hands when they suspect their wives of infidelity.
Humaid and Abbas were Canadian citizens who lived in Dubai in 1999.
His lawyer could not be reached for comment.
Original here
Janice Tibbetts
CanWest News Service
Friday, November 10, 2006
OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada declined an invitation on Thursday to consider whether Muslim cultural and religious beliefs in ''family honour'' should be taken into account as justification for receiving a lighter sentence for killing an unfaithful wife.
The court refused to hear the appeal of Adi Abdul Humaid, a devout Muslim from the United Arab Emirates, who admitted to stabbing Aysar Abbas to death with a steak knife on a visit to Ottawa in 1999.
In an application filed in the Supreme Court, Humaid's lawyer, Richard Bosada, argued Humaid was provoked by his wife's claim she cheated on him, an insult so severe in the Muslim faith it deprived him of self-control.
The concept of ''family honour'' in the Muslim culture means a man is disgraced if his wife has an affair, said the application.
Humaid was convicted of first-degree murder and lost his appeal at the Ontario Court of Appeal, which concluded his defence lacked an ''air of reality.''
The Supreme Court, by convention, did not give reasons for refusing to consider the case, but it normally only takes on appeals it considers to be of national importance.
Under Canadian law, a rarely used, controversial defence called provocation can allow intentional killings to be reduced to the lesser crime of manslaughter if the accused proves the crime was committed in the heat of passion arising from a ''wrongful act or insult'' that would cause an ordinary person to lose control.
Bosada said the high court should take on the case to provide guidance to lower courts ''in this multi-cultural Canadian society.''
Humaid contends his Muslim beliefs should be a factor because he killed his wife after she hinted she was having an affair with a business associate.
Abbas was 46 years old when she died of 23 stab wounds to the throat in the fall of 1999, while she and her husband were visiting their son at the University of Ottawa.
Humaid testified at his trial he blacked out after hearing his wife's confession and he lost all self-control.
The Ontario Crown, in a Supreme Court court submission, maintains the murder was pre-meditated and Humaid, who had an affair with the family maid, wanted out of his marriage. Humaid also stood to gain financially from the death of his wife, a successful engineer who controlled most of the family wealth.
After having an affair himself, Humaid's argument that he deserves a lighter sentence because he was provoked by his wife's insult ''is irreconcilable with the principal of gender equality'' enshrined in the Charter of Rights, says the Crown's submission.
An American scholar, Mahmoud Mustafa Ayoub, testified at Humaid's trial that many Islamic societies permit men to punish wives suspected of adultery and sometimes even kill them. Under Islamic law, punishment for adultery is usually flogging or stoning, Ayoub said. In some Muslim cultures and rural areas, unfaithful women can be killed.
But Ayoub acknowledged under cross-examination that Muslims in Canada should not be able to take the law into their own hands when they suspect their wives of infidelity.
Humaid and Abbas were Canadian citizens who lived in Dubai in 1999.
His lawyer could not be reached for comment.
posted by JDS at 7:10 AM
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