Diary of a Rape Victim after her Death

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words fail me..

If only it were the only such incidence. But it isn`t. There are hundreds or thousands of such rapes that go unreported. I was discussing this with someone in Pakistan who mentioned how the ``zamindars`` almost casually rape the women who work on their land. He recounted, as an example, of someone they who rapes a girl who works on his land, whenever he wants, and boasts about it to his friends....

And it`s not just anecdotal evidence... The recent story of that raped girl who was `sentenced` to a rape by a jirga in Punjab, and then subsequently raped in the cognizance of the whole village and the mullah too, makes anyone with even an iota of humanity recoil. Yet, this was ignored by the police when a complaint of rape was registered. There was no one in Pukistan to help the girl, and it was only when a NY Times journalist ran the story and Pukistan was ashamed ONCE AGAIN on the world stage, that wheels got put into motion.

So much for the land of the pure.

mubashir:

this is sad

anything i say will sound hollow

murtadd - i think that in the case you are talking about, the so called local ``mullah`` was amongst the people who decried the incident and played a leading part in getting the story out to the media and police.

stop being such a pessimist

murtadd - i think that in the case you are talking about, the so called local ``mullah`` was amongst the people who decried the incident and played a leading part in getting the story out to the media and police.

stop being such a pessimist

this is a sad story but i`m just curious about one thing, your narration style, were you inspired by a novel called `The Lovely Bones` where a girl who is raped and killed narrates her life and death and aftermath from her grave?

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For those of you who really do care, I would suggest you put pen to paper, re the following. This is another human rights atrocity, occuring in another islamic country, because of that vile religion, but one which hasn`t been carried out yet:

Send the email to both these emails : rostami@safineh.net;irjpr@ iranjudiciary.org
Address to:

Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice,
Park-e Shahr,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

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details:

A young woman, known as ``Leyla M``, who has a mental age of eight, is reportedly facing flogging and imminent execution for ``morality-related`` offences arising from her being forced into prostitution as a child.

Leyla M was forced into prostitution by her mother when she was eight years old, according to the 28 November report, and was raped repeatedly thereafter. She gave birth to her first child when she was nine, and was sentenced to 100 lashes for prostitution at around the same time. At the age of 12, her family sold her to an Afghan man to become his ``temporary wife``. His mother became her new pimp, ``selling her body without her consent``. At the age of 14 she became pregnant again, and received a further 100 lashes, after which she was moved to a maternity ward to give birth to twins. After this ``temporary marriage``, her family sold her again, to a 55-year-old man, married with two children, who had Leyla`s customers come to his house.

As a party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has undertaken not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they were under 18 years old. The Iranian authorities are now considering legislation that would prohibit the use of the death penalty for offences committed under the age of 18. Article 41 of this law requires the authorities to have child offenders examined by psychiatrists and social workers.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/action/irandp.shtml

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This is a template letter:

Dear Sir

IMMINENT EXECUTION OF “LEYLA M”

I was most concerned to read an Amnesty International report that a young woman, known as “Leyla M``, who has a mental age of eight, is reportedly facing imminent execution for ``morality-related`` offences arising from her being forced into prostitution as a child. According to Khorasan report of 28 November, she was sentenced to death by a court in Arak while she was 18, and the sentence has now been passed to the Supreme Court for confirmation.

According to a 5 May 2004 report in Khorasan, Leyla M was sentenced to death on charges of ``acts contrary to chastity`` by controlling a brothel, having intercourse with blood relatives and giving birth to an illegitimate child. She is to be flogged before she is executed. She had apparently ``confessed`` to the charges. This report stated that there would be an appeal, and the 28 November report indicates that this process is now at an end.

According to the 28 November report, social workers have repeatedly tested her mental capacities, and each time they have found her to have a mental age of eight. However, she has apparently never been examined by the court-appointed doctors, and was sentenced to death solely on the basis of her explicit confessions, without consideration of her background or mental health.

Leyla M was forced into prostitution by her mother when she was eight years old, according to the 28 November report, and was raped repeatedly thereafter. She gave birth to her first child when she was nine, and was sentenced to 100 lashes for prostitution at around the same time. At the age of 12, her family sold her to an Afghan man to become his ``temporary wife``. His mother became her new pimp, ``selling her body without her consent``. At the age of 14 she became pregnant again, and received a further 100 lashes, after which she was moved to a maternity ward to give birth to twins. After this ``temporary marriage``, her family sold her again, to a 55-year-old man, married with two children, who had Leyla`s customers come to his house.

As a party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has undertaken not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they were under 18 years old. I understand that the Iranian authorities are now considering legislation that would prohibit the use of the death penalty for offences committed under the age of 18. Article 41 of this law requires the authorities to have child offenders examined by psychiatrists and social workers.

I am writing to express my concern at reports that Leyla M has been sentenced to death for offences committed when she was a child, pointing out that she has been found to have a mental age of eight and urging the authorities to carry out an urgent review of her case.
I call on the Supreme Court to ensure that Article 41 of the draft law on the Establishment of Children`s Courts has been implemented, which requires social workers and psychiatrists to examine defendants such as Leyla M.

Please remind the Head of the Judiciary that passing a death sentence on Leyla M would violate the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.

I ask for details of the trial proceedings and any appeals related to her case, and seek assurances that the authorities will uphold their obligation to ensure that Leyla M is represented by a lawyer who is able to act in her best interests.

I call for Leyla M to be granted access to any medical treatment that she may need.

It is a matter of concern and dismay that Amnesty International has recorded 10 executions of child offenders in Iran since 1990, and that three of them in 2004. I ask the Iranian authorities to immediately halt further executions of child offenders.

Yours faithfully

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Of course, you don`t HAVE to put your pen where your mouth is. You could sit and say something completely idiotic like c`est la vie....

I`ve gone back and googled, and fine, on THIS occasion perhaps the Mullah did condemn it. But that doesn`t obviate the fact that 300 villagers didn`t do a thing; or that had someone chucked a quran in the bin (even by mistake) these same mullahs would be baying for their blood; or that in Pukistan 60% of the wo€men in jail are there because of the hudood ordinance`s approach on their having been raped. And it doesn`t obviate the fact that arrogant pukistanis living in the US or UK are more obssessed with reminiscing about their oh so beautiful land and telling people `it`s not so bad` and leave it to western human rights agencies to plead/publicise on the victims behalf.

>>stop being such a pessimist >>

Why?

I really wept when I read this story. I really want to die with shame. She was my sister and her murders and rapist are at large and I am living on this planet and feel happy. It is a moment to think and think in the real sense. Who will be the next another of my sisters or daughters or yours? Are we just waiting for the criminals to do this atrocious act again? Don’t blame just the government we all are responsible. Our silence make us part of this horrible act. It our duty to revenge our sisters honor. In a manner that no criminal mind ever dare to think do this to us again. Don’t take law in your hand but play your due role. I really feel sorry for the aggrieved family. She was my sister just tell me what I can do for her? She was our sister tell us what can we do for her? We are all waiting………..! fnahmad@gmail.com

Off all the reactions, let me speak to three of them...

# 6 Scout:

never heard or read of the novel you mentioned. similarities in the dread are almost the same all around the world of these incidents.

# 9 NIKI7777:

this is not ``morbid fascination`` but real life. ``the heart that feels the pain is the heart that bleeds.`` Nothing more for me to say.

# 12 FnAhmad:

what we could learn here is:

let`s empower and not rather protect the women in our society. and also to get out of the impression that God IS the actor...He is NOT...He could be an arbitrator...we ARE the actors.

AND yes. words failed me too. i tried to record my protest in many governmental and social quarters but came no solace. people, we are on our own in this world! justice javed iqbal in his autobiography writes that he once asked a chinese school going girl that if she prays. ``we dont pray. praying is like begging for alms/charigy and we dont beg,`` she said.

let`s not beg anymore and do something worthwhile when we are alive!

Love, Peace of Else...

Rape as Punishment

By Mona Eltahawy
Sunday, July 28, 2002; Page B07

A Pakistan tribal council`s horrific ``punishment`` by gang rape of a young woman last month was just the tip of a very ugly iceberg called honor.

In the name of that most elusive of concepts, women are shot, beheaded, burned, stoned and beaten. And, in the case of Saleema, raped.


Four men raped Saleema (not her real name) for more than an hour to ruin her honor and avenge that of another woman. (Saleema`s 12-year-old brother had been in the company of a woman from a more powerful tribal family, apparently not by his own choice, and been summarily accused of having an affair with her). Hence the tribal council`s ``verdict`` on his sister.

The Pakistan Human Rights Commission estimates that at least eight women, five of them minors, are reported raped every day; more than two-thirds of them are gang-raped.

In Pakistan rape is often used for revenge or punishment against an enemy. A woman is ``defiled`` to taint her family. What irony that a woman as powerless as Saleema carries the whole family`s honor on her shoulders -- a heavy burden indeed.

It is one that is carried by women in countless Muslim countries, yet there is not a single word in the Koran that calls for death in the name of honor. Virginity before marriage and chastity afterward are the bulwarks of honor in societies where such killings prevail.

The mere suspicion that she has jeopardized that honor -- talking to a neighbor, being seen with a strange man, or even asking for a divorce -- can earn a woman a death sentence.

Some conservative Muslim clerics shamefully support honor killings. They accuse activists who fight to eradicate such crimes, often at risk of their own lives, of seeking to impose Western values upon their traditional societies.

What is so Western about wanting to end a barbaric cultural practice that leaves a woman damned if she does and damned if she doesn`t?

In Yemen a few years ago, a man shot his daughter dead on her wedding night after her husband claimed she was not a virgin. At the mother`s insistence, a doctor examined the young woman`s body and found her to have been a virgin. Her husband was impotent and lied to protect his honor because he knew he would not be able to display a bloodied rag as proof of his bride`s virginity.

According to UNICEF and Amnesty International statistics, more than 1,000 women were victims of honor killings in Pakistan in 1999. There were up to 400 honor killings in Yemen in 1997. The United Nations says such killings have also occurred in Britain, Norway, Italy, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela. At least one case has been reported in the United States.

One particularly gruesome killing had us dumbfounded as word of what happened came into the Cairo newsroom where I was working at the time. A young woman named Nora Ahmed had eloped. Her father had not approved of her choice of husband. When she returned to Cairo to try to change her father`s mind he asked to speak with her privately. He then cut off her head and paraded it down a Cairo street, shouting ``Now my family has regained its honor.``

In 1997 some 52 honor killings were reported in Egypt. The actual figures in all of the countries I`ve cited are probably much higher because most honor killings go unreported.

What to do if clerics remain perversely silent about an ancient practice that is rooted in culture rather than religion? What to do when men who kill female relatives in the name of honor too often escape punishment or receive atrociously short sentences?

We must acknowledge the brave few who speak out. A village imam courageously condemned Saleema`s rape in a Friday sermon, drawing journalists` attention.

A particularly useful weapon is embarrassment. In Saleema`s case, local and international outcries led Pakistani authorities to arrest and charge all four suspected rapists. Several other people -- including a police officer -- are also in custody for allegedly failing to prevent the attack or hiding the suspects.

Two of the most courageous activists fighting honor killings are sisters Asma Jehangir and Hina Jilani. They are both lawyers and human rights activists who tirelessly champion women`s rights despite death threats and a largely unsympathetic government.

Let`s embarrass that government into prosecuting more of those who kill in the name of honor. Let`s shame it into doing the honorable thing.

Mona Eltahawy was a reporter in the Middle East before she moved to the United States.

Mubakr:

Well an interaction long after from ilogs…
You write very well and have poured factual face of our society...
Apart from constituting legal work on these issues we should also rework our attitudes. I have observed that men have a typical mindset that I should have to only give honor and that owing respect to a woman who has biological relationship of sister with him.
Thus any other woman with whom he has communications and interactions or even they are in the boundary of same physical peripheries is not to be respected.
This attitude can be seen in markets, transports, college/universities. With this deep notion in oneself, the man rags of womenfolk:
“Wo meri maa, behan ya baiti nahi”/ “Mei.n sirf apni maa, behan, baiti ki izzat karta hoo.”
In order to avoid such vulgarity the fundamentalist group of Islamic country try to educate just only the women to cover themselves and avoid insulting behaviors. I think only avoiding doesn’t work, we should be strong enough not to let anyone hamper our corridors.
When we look at families then there is a general trend that boys are one to misuse the freedom, liberty. But a girl is threatened not to practice small emancipations. She is repeatedly revised her organic nature and its oddity in sphere of men world. She has to think in a way where she could adjust herself in the predefined makeup of our cultures.
She is more precise towards her appearance than boys. So she loses confidence in early stages of her life. However grooming in her definition is called as to suppress her ideas, and feeling to be come in self described modesty. However boys how much vivacious they are thought to carry this animation forever.
When we would be able to scratch the symbolisms of being a self-effacing creature and would think people around us owing due respects then we would be able to comeout of such traumatic incidents.

Your article made me think. Best regards for the New year.

I am speechless.. I simply can’t utter a word as that would do no good to the deceased sole and neither would it effect the asshole who bailed the culprits.. I’m sure if the girl would have survived, police would have changed the medical report and tampered other evidence.. and the asshole presiding office would have taken bribe and acquitted the culprits.

What would have happened to the girl.. everyone knows for sure..

Our police, judiciary, beurocracy, army, politics, law and system needs a major revamping..

Inqalab zindabad !