“Disgraceful and outrageous acts …”
If the mother of Thamar Zeidan is to be believed, her husband’s savage murder of their daughter was carried out in response to “tremendous pressure” placed on him by fellow villagers to restore family honor, as reported on Dec. 19, 2013 by The National Post (of Ottawa, Canada) and The Jewish Journal (of Los Angeles, CA).
Accused of “disgraceful and outrageous acts” by over fifty extended family members in the dusty and drab little hamlet of Deir Al Ghusun, the girl died at her father’s hand after a petition was posted in at least five mosques.
Herself divorced four years ago, Thamer had to surrender custody of her 3 children to her ex-husband in order for her Islamic law marriage be finalized.
Since living with her parents, Thamer became romantically linked with Iyad Na’lweh, a married laborer who worked in Israel and had a wife and children residing in Jordan.
Na’Iweh “promised her that if she became his second wife (legal in Islamic law) he would help her get her children back. Late last summer, Na’lweh was seen outside Zeidan’s house one evening. That’s when the rumors against both Thamer and her possible second husband were ginned up, reportedly by her ex-in-laws still stinging over her divorce from their son.
Besides accusing the deceased of “disgraceful and outrageous acts,” the petition went on to demand of Munther that he “reinstate the cultural and religious morals in his family.” In other words, he had to kill his daughter.
As if the ex’s family coming down on her wasn’t bad enough, they also nixed her plans to remarry based on their presumption that Na’lweh had a drinking problem, which is forbidden under Islamic law.
“It is not clear if they had a physical relationship,” the reports read, although the autopsy showed no recent sexual relations.
Nonetheless, according to Thamer’s sister, Suad Mohammed, the father, killed the pretty 32-year-old by placing “one hand on her mouth and he choked her with the other hand.”
Thamer and Suad’s mother defended her husband’s Sharia-compliant killing:
My husband is a peaceful man and this is completely out of character, but the pressure was too intense.
But not all family members were of like emotional response. Thamer’s aunt threw a celebration feast due to the family’s honor having finally been restored.
