Yemeni women prisonersSuffering between the two worlds [Archives:2005/869/Culture]

Eshraq AL-Bodigi
For Yemen Times
[email protected]
Crime of all kinds spreads in all societies around the world; however it defines and adapts itself according to the circumstances of society and crime takes different shapes in every community.

In spite of all different types of the crime, certainly there are various types of criminals. Whether they are men or women, at the end they are still criminals till they receive their punishment, and when they become virtuous, they can live normal life as persons of the civil society individuals, and enjoy the all of their humanity rights.

Applying the principle of the crime and punishment, regardless of the enacting laws of this principle, all systems enforcing these laws rely on the equality between men and women in many different parts of the world. And from this point, we can arrive at the distinct situation of male and female prisoners and what is the result that is coming from the discrimination of treatments whether inside or outside the prison after the accomplishment of the term of punishment.

Following up the women prisoners' situations in the Yemeni society it becomes crucial to draw attention of the supervisors and concerned people to what Yemeni women prisoners are suffering of the oppression of their humanity rights inside and outside the prison.

The continuous economic crises that Yemen had living after several of political, economical, and social changes which happened in the latest three decades, had caused many damages that extended generally to the Yemeni community, and particularly to Yemeni women. As a result of these crises, some of Yemeni women had faced dangerous difficult life conditions, and they get involved in illegal acts that thrown them into the prisons.

Some of these conditions or reasons are: outer and inner emigration, unemployment, poverty, diseases, divorcing, and carrying weapons.

With or without the existence of these reasons, we find that the result was only one which deposited many of the Yemeni women into closed prisons in order to absent correction and rehabilitation.

As the situation of many Arab countries, what is happening behind the ironic bars is a violation of humanity rights as a first and a violation of woman rights as a second thing, and this is as result of her description as marginal element generally in the life of the Arabian societies and particularly in Yemeni society.

Talking about the defensive legal rights of feminine prisoners, woman prisoner almost doesn't get her rights to defend of herself inside the court and the consequence of that she spend a punishment term inside the prison with or without specific reason and with or without committing a crime.

In fact, the same matter is applied with the male prisoners however the situation will be worst, truculence, and intensity with the feminine prisoner that only because she is a woman and that the real reason, which pushed us to talk about these strange distinguished acts that the community, which lack more consciousness in different sides, is required such as humanity and legal sides.

Perhaps, we recognize just right now what we are seeking for from this talking about the losing of human rights and women rights as a main object for us.

Woman prisoner may subject to some acts of sexual assault as a result of her existence in thorough male community.

In addition to her being in the prison, she may loss her rights to practice her new life in that place via a good manner that can save her humanity and feel her that she is still a human.

The time that Yemeni woman has spending in closed jail behind the ironic bars will be enough for her to fell by her sin whatever its kind that she did with respect of some other kinds of punishment that Islamic law had already legislated in our religion. Besides that, now the deprivation of freedom considers as one kind of the civilized punishment and that is becoming so useful with little of correction and rehabilitation on the level of these prisons or others.

Many jails around the universe proved its ability to correct and rehabilitate the prisoners and re-amalgamate them through their societies, using special manner, which allows the prisoners to live by noble ways and that by offering them some of suitable jobs that fits with what did they learn during their punishment term in the prisons.

This manner of rehabilitation and correction was and still the best method to make sure that those prisoners will not join in criminal acts again in the future.

We may ask ourselves, what is happening for these women prisoners after they spent their punishment term in the dark prisons? However the answer is so easy with regard to real life conditions that can express obvious ignorance and more obvious injustice.

After a long or short period of time that woman prisoner had spent in the prison, they give the feminine prisoner her freedom and let her to face her destiny. Usually, she subjects to her family and master ignorance who think that their woman had brought the shame for them, while their duty necessitates them to get rid of her as soon as possible, similarly as they get rid of their rubbish.

Some of other women masters may they wouldn't like to see her at all even in the prison or outside, they demonstrate his disgusting of her and their desire to leave her for ever, thinking that they will save their honor and reputation. While other parents are still running after the woman in aiming of killing her.

In each case, the result will be one and that is the shame and rejection the woman prisoner who already has her freedom and then she has to accept the execution as her second opening punishment term.

The outcoming from all of this is obviously that Yemeni woman prisoner is suffering not only the term of punishment inside the prison itself but she is suffering the unfairness on the level of her family and also on the level of her society outside the prison.

For fix this bad situation which will increase the society by more ignorance and put down of its humanity values and morals consciously or without consciously, we should start to work on the correction and rehabilitation inside these prisons or jails, carrying for the woman who considers as a half of the society with regard to save her dignity and her humanity rights as well as we do with her brother (man), and starting to practice the parallelism principle in punishment with depends on the kind of the crime.

To be able to achieve this power to the reality, we have to start by doing some of easy and fast steps and the first step is distribution of the feminine police or policewomen and concentrate them during the arrest of the feminine suspected and also in women prisoners during the punishment term and this for protect woman from any assault may happen there.

Then we have to take a look and think so carefully to put good plans for correction and rehabilitation in order to re-amalgamate the feminine prisoners inside the society and try to break the barriers which build up between the two sides, using the social enlightenment through special enlightenment programs.

Finally and as a latest and protective step, special centers for women prisoners sheltering should be constructed, it will be useful to protect the women who scare of coming back to their families or for whom that their parents are running after them in order to killing them. It will be better to concentrate the care of these prisoners and follow up their cases step by step till they could get ride of any violence signs that may arise as a result of their shock in their parents and families.
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