Pakistani graduate raped to punish her low-caste family (London Times)
"A young Pakistani woman has been kidnapped, raped and beaten by a gang of high-caste villagers because her uncle eloped with one of their relatives. She was chosen for punishment because she had recently gained a degree and was the pride of her low-caste family.
[...]
"Last week human rights campaigners said Shaheen was unlikely to see her attackers brought to justice because President Pervez Musharraf had failed in an attempt to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, which requires four male Muslim witnesses to support a rape charge. If the accused is acquitted, the victim becomes liable to prosecution for adultery.
"While Musharraf was out of the country earlier this month, a committee of hardline Islamic scholars neutered his bill to protect women’s rights which would have repealed the Hudood Ordinance. The scholars claimed the bill was un-Islamic because it 'encouraged adultery'.
"Shaheen’s ordeal began last month when 11 armed men, believed to be security guards employed by one of Musharraf’s ministers, forced their way into her home, attacked her father and brothers and pulled her and her mother into the street."
See also:
Vendetta Rapes Continue as Pakistan Resists Change (New York Times, October 4, 2006):
"Since then, Ms. Shaheen’s ambitions have been shattered, and it is she who suffers scorn for the rape. She says she feels helpless. The school where she was to teach has refused to accept her.
"'They said they can’t accept me as it is a matter of their repute now,' Ms. Shaheen said."
And see:
PAKISTAN: Police and government henchmen abducted and confined a mother and a girl for 12 days (Asian Human Rights Commission, September 7, 2006)
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