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Pakistani court upholds Mukhtaran Mai gang-rape acquittals
[Al Jazeera] Five men accused of gang-raping a Pak woman in 2002 under orders from a village council have been acquitted by the supreme court of the country, their lawyer says.Abdul Khalique, the sixth suspect in the case, had his life sentence upheld, Malik Saleem, the defence lawyer, said on Thursday. The rape of Mukhtaran Mai in 2002 drew international attention after she decided to speak out about her ordeal, defying Pak norms. She alleged that she had been gang-raped on the orders of a village council in the name of "honour" in Muzaffargarh district. The gang-rape was to be punishment because her brother - who was 12 years old at the time - had been judged to have offended the "honour" of a powerful clan by allegedly having an affair with one of its women. Following the judgement, Mai said she had "lost faith" in the legal system, and she was now worried that the acquitted men would harm her. Saleem said the five were acquitted because of the lack of eyewitness testimony. The five men will now be freed once their paperwork is complete, he said. The supreme court, to which Mai had appealed in 2005, was upholding a previous verdict issued by the Lahore high court. Asked if she would appeal the verdict, Mai said she would take a decision after consulting her lawyers. "I'm disappointed. Why was I made to wait for five years if this decision was to be given?" Mai told the Rooters news agency. Human rights activists in the country criticised the verdict shortly after it was issued. Posted by: Fred 2011-04-22 |
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