Wednesday, November 15, 2006
How progressive
Pakistan moves into the 19th century:
Why is this such a step forward, you ask? Well, Islamic law made a rape victim liable to prosecution for adultery if she could not produce four male witnesses to the assault. Yeah, you read that right . . . unless the rape victim could produce four male witnesses to corroborate her accusations, she was guilty.
If the amendment passes the Pakistani upper house, it will take the crime of rape out of the sphere of the religious law and puts it under the penal code. That will do away with the requirement of four male witnesses and allow convictions to be made on the basis of actual evidence.
The religion on peace, my friends.
Pakistan's lower house of parliament voted on Wednesday to put the crime of rape under the civil penal code, curtailing the scope of Islamic laws that rights groups have long criticized as unfair to women.
Why is this such a step forward, you ask? Well, Islamic law made a rape victim liable to prosecution for adultery if she could not produce four male witnesses to the assault. Yeah, you read that right . . . unless the rape victim could produce four male witnesses to corroborate her accusations, she was guilty.
If the amendment passes the Pakistani upper house, it will take the crime of rape out of the sphere of the religious law and puts it under the penal code. That will do away with the requirement of four male witnesses and allow convictions to be made on the basis of actual evidence.
The religion on peace, my friends.
