Newsweek reports on an unlikely heroine emerging in Pakistan –
Soon after Mukhtar Mai was savagely gang-raped on the orders of a village council three years ago, she considered her options. She had never been accused of any crime. (The rape was carried out as supposed retribution for an alleged and implausible affair between Mai’s teenage brother and a 30-year-old woman.) But according to rural Pakistan’s strict Islamic code, she was forever “dishonored.” The local Mastoi clan, which dominates the village council, expected her to keep her mouth shut or simply disappear. Her own Gujar clan refused to support her. “My choice was either to commit suicide or to fight back,” Mai recalled last week. “I decided to fight back.” …Mai also has become a model for Pakistani women pressing for more rights. She’s been a guest speaker at women’s forums across the country, and has even taken her message to Spain and India. By broadcasting her case, she has embarrassed authorities. The Pakistani government, aiming to show its support, has paved the dirt road leading into Mai’s village and is now connecting local homes to the electricity grid. “The U.S. civil-rights campaign had Rosa Parks, who helped to spark an entire movement,” says Sherry Rehman, a Pakistani activist and opposition member of Parliament. “We have Mukhtar Mai.”
Somehow, a “you go girl!” just isn’t enough in cases like these. Still, as a technologist myself, I can’t help but notice the degree to which broadcast media, the Internet, and cheap/easy air travel transformed this case into an icon when undoubtedly so many before her were simply lost in a sea of statistics.
this woman has amazing courage!
The Pakistan State Court did the right thing in acquitting the accused in this case. These men were given a death sentence by Mush’s Anti Terrorism Kangaroo court. There were glaring problems in the prosecution case on which these men were given the death sentence. Problems included changed testimony, witnesses with conflicting statements, inconsistencies in the state’s case etc., The most problematic part was the wrong identification of some of the accused. Even though some of the accused clearly included the alleged rapists, some of the other people given the death sentence were wrongly identified and were there merely because of personal rivalries etc., This whole case should be tried again. Clearly a rape took place and the rapists need to be held accountable.
This is definitely a case of rapid technology growth NOT leading the loss of our humanity.
Here’s hoping the introduction of a Shia government in Iraq doesn’t throw its women back under Sharia status.
Unfortunately, not much is going to come of this. People are arguing that because she took so long to come forward with what’s happened, and because there’s no real “hard” evidence that she was raped, other than hearsay, the judiciary hasn’t the right to do anything to the bastard rape victims.
I say they should make the precedent.
Sin: I assume you mean “bastard rapists.”
Are they actually denying that the event occurred? That would definitely become a “she said/they said†situation. A LOT of rape prosecutions end up like that, although in the U.S., the question is usually consent (i.e. the defendant acknowledges the act, but asserts as a defense that it was consensual sex.) Of course, in the U.S. – that’s arguably the role of the jury: to determine credibility.
-D
P.S. – Also, hearsay is an out of court statement coming in for the truth of the matter asserted. SO – if she testifies in court that she was raped, that’s not hearsay. If her neighbor testifies that he heard someone else say that she was raped, that’s more likely to be hearsay.(There are a bunch of hearsay exceptions and statements considered non-hearsay, but I’ve bored y’all long enough. 😉 )