Posted on 12/02/2011 1:49:37 AM PST by Cardhu
KABUL, Afghanistan — When the Afghan government announced Thursday that it would pardon a woman who had been imprisoned for adultery after she reported that she had been raped, the decision seemed a clear victory for the many women here whose lives have been ground down by the Afghan justice system.
But when the announcement also made it clear that there was an expectation that the woman, Gulnaz, would agree to marry the man who raped her, the moment instead revealed the ways in which even efforts guided by the best intentions to redress violence against women here run up against the limits of change in a society where cultural practices are so powerful that few can resist them, not even the president.
The solution holds grave risks for Gulnaz, who uses one name, since the man could be so humiliated that he might kill his accuser, despite the risk of prosecution, or abuse her again.
The decision from the government of President Hamid Karzai is all the more poignant coming as Western forces prepare to leave Afghanistan, underscoring the unfinished business of advancing women’s rights here, and raising questions of what will happen in the future to other women like Gulnaz.
Indeed, what prompted the government to act at all was a grass-roots movement that began after Gulnaz was featured in a recent documentary film commissioned by the European Union, which then blocked the film’s release.
Supporters of the filmmakers charged that European officials were shying away from exposing the sort of abuses Afghan women routinely suffer for fear of offending their host government.
While Gulnaz’s pardon is a victory for both Clementine Malpas, a filmmaker who spent nearly six months on the documentary, and for Kimberley Motley, an American lawyer here who took Gulnaz’s case...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Two pages at the link
the best situation would be if every muslim woman would arise in the middle of the night , take up a long sharp knife ,and forever rid themselves of the oppression of every muslim man .
May God have mercy on their souls.
All cultures are equal in value.
We shoulda set up a Military governmant a la Nazi Germany or Japan (McArthur was better).
Make them a new Constitution based on our bill of Rights.
Say “welcome to the ninteenth century” and give a short dance at the end of a rope for anybody who objected.
Now we have an unrepairable mess, thanks to compassionate conservatism’ and a buncha BS PC.
LOL! Anyone who thinks having her marry her rapist is an intention to redress violence is an idiot.
Think of the phrase 'possession is 9 10ths of the law'. Once he raped her, she became his.
At least under the barbaric practices of islamic law, anyway.
“Women’s Rights” as defined by the animals who own our president.
I'd vote for an amendment that said, "freedom of religion" except for the heathen, pagan, idolatrous, 7th century muslim one.
They want to and are somewhat succeeding in, bringing that garbage to our country.
The Catholic church had the right attitude toward them historically and over a thousand years ago knew the only solution waas to wipe them off the face of the earth.
” Custom”? More like the insane unforgiving wall of ISLAM.
Hopefully, history will repeat itself.
An Afghan rape victim who was jailed for adultery does not have to marry her attacker to be freed, her lawyer has told the BBC.
Lawyer Kimberly Motley says this was clarified personally to her by President Hamid Karzai's office.
Mr Karzai pardoned the woman, named as Gulnaz, earlier this week, but some reports had said this was on condition that she married her attacker.
Gulnaz gave birth in jail to a daughter who has been kept with her.
Thank you Pan_Yan for the update - I wonder if the fact that this news item went viral prompted the clarifcation or change of heart.
...would pardon a woman who had been imprisoned for adultery after she reported that she had been raped ...[if] would agree to marry the man who raped her...
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