This is a result of Muhammad's exoneration of his favorite wife, Aisha, who was suspected of adultery. Allah gave him a revelation requiring four male witnesses to establish such a crime: "And those who accuse honourable women but bring not four witnesses, scourge them (with) eighty stripes and never (afterward) accept their testimony - They indeed are evil-doers" (Qur'an 24:4). The problem with this is that women who accuse men of rape but cannot produce four male witnesses are often accused themselves of zina -- unlawful sexual intercourse -- and jailed as a result.
"Fareeda's fate: rape, prison and 25 lashes: Up to 80 per cent of women in Pakistan's jails are charged under rules that penalise rape victims. But hardliners have vetoed an end to the Islamic laws," from The Guardian, with thanks to PVB:
In the blinding white desert sunlight in a farm courtyard on the outskirts of the ancient town of Shekhupura, Fareeda nervously passes a green silk hijab between her fingers. Unusually for a young Pakistani woman, her fingernails are not pristine and carefully painted but chewed, cracked and grubby.Fareeda says she feels safe here - a safe house for rape victims run by a local NGO. Littered with rusting motorcycle carcases and parts of discarded fridges and cookers, it feels like a scrapyard.
The story of this 19-year-old's journey here is horrifying. In spring 2005 she was raped by her family's neighbour, a postman, and his teenage son. She fell pregnant - and later miscarried - as a result. Her mistake was to tell her parents. With their consent, under Pakistan's orthodox Islamic laws, she was charged with fornication outside marriage and sentenced to 100 lashes, later reduced to 50 and then 25 because of her age, and sent to jail. After four months her prison ordeal ended when a family friend secretly paid a bribe. Her plight is not unique.
According to a recent report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a woman is gang-raped every eight hours in the country. However, because of social taboos, discriminatory laws and the treatment of victims by police, campaigners believe the real figure is far higher. Women who report their rapists remain more likely to go to prison themselves than see justice, so most cases are never reported. Women who are raped can face legal difficulties anywhere in the world, but human rights groups remain particularly concerned over Pakistan's record. Their alarm is centred on enforcement of the 'Hudood ordinances', a complex set of Koranic laws whose name is derived from hud meaning 'punishment'. Similar sharia laws have existed in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan for centuries, but Pakistan's were enacted by former President Zia ul-Haq only in 1979, as part of his radical attempt to 'Islamicise' the country.
The legislation has always been full of legal ambiguities, and none more so than the Zina ordinance which deals with adultery, premarital sex and rape. The maximum punishment for adultery is stoning to death for married people and 100 lashes for the unwed.
For a rape trial to go ahead in Pakistan, four adult Muslim men, 'all of a pious and trustworthy nature', must have witnessed the attack and be willing to testify. Evidence from female and non-Muslim witnesses is considered worthless. A woman who can't produce those witnesses can be prosecuted for fornication and alleging a false crime, the penalties for which are stoning, lashings or prison.
Read it all.
No wonder the Brothers Gruesome (Pakistanis) committed gang rape here in Australia, and thought nothing of it. Look at the "culture" they were spawned in. Their father, a doctor, was equally putrid when he tried to lay blame on the victims, saying that in Pakistan women didn't go around unaccompanied. But it doesn't matter about being unaccompanied or not. It's just the sick, degenerate male Muslim mindset that's the cause. In Pakistan I'm sure women don't move as freely about as Australian women, and I'm sure most, if not all, are all hijabbed up. But it doesn't seem to stop the rapes, does it?
For a rape trial to go ahead in Pakistan, four adult Muslim men, 'all of a pious and trustworthy nature', must have witnessed the attack and be willing to testify.
This would be hilarious if it weren't so sick and evil. So four "pious and trustworthy" men are going to stand around and witness a women being raped, and not doing anything to stop it. No, they'll just stand there and watch, and then offer their assistance afterwards at the trial. Unbelievable!
The maximum punishment for adultery is stoning to death for married people and 100 lashes for the unwed.
Finally, being too ugly to get married works out in my favor.
...and where are the American feminists? Why am I even bothering to ask?
I wonder why Muslim women don't stage a rebellion.
Just across the Pakistan border, the paki-trained kashmiri terrorists threaten to slit the throats of women who don't wear the veil.
Read it all:
http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/24/stories/2006092420750100.htm
And to think, muslim women would stand behind sharia law here, or in any free country. A woman that WANTS to live under this insane and barbaric custom is, well a total idiot.
"We don't think Hudood laws are against human rights," said Dr. Mirajul Huda..."They prevent people going to the limits. They put an obstacle on all types of obscenity and protect society."
Say what?
What limits are they preventing people from going to? Killing the woman before forcing sex on her? It sounds like that in this society men are protected from having to be accountable for their actions. Rape is a normal part of one's routine:
1) Buy lemons at the market. Check.
2) Pray 5 times a day. Check.
3) Pick up dry cleaning. Check.
4) Rape some chick in a hefty bag. Check and double check.
And never worry about your conscience, for indeed, you don't have one.
And don't forget to mention these women are then endlessly raped in prison too.
Here is one article on the Australian rape brothers:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/gang-rapists-attacks-unavoidable-says-lawyer/2005/10/11/1128796528939.html?oneclick=true
It was said in court that these attacks were 'inevitable':
"A violent gang rapist should have been given a lesser sentence partly because he was a "cultural time bomb" whose attacks were inevitable, as he had emigrated from a country with traditional views of women, his barrister has argued."
If it is 'inevitable' that people from these countries are going to be a danger to women, then why do our governments let them in? In truth, it is probably not 'inevitable', but rather very likely that many of them will abuse women, and it is the case in England that many Muslim men do rape women and children(and Australia, and Sweden, and Denmark, and everywhere else). Why do our governments put us at this risk? Why should so many Western women be raped?
Shariah Law has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Here's an example in a municipality in Indonesia, trying to impose Shariah by-laws. It is not rape related but a violation that could easily happen to any woman.
Lilis Lindawati,a pregnant married elementary school teacher in Tangerang, just outside of Jakarta, violated a 7pm curfew local by-law where women must be home or in the accompaniment of their spouse or male family member if on the streets. She was late coming home from work (not surprising because of Jakarta's wonderful traffic jams) and was nabbed by the by-law police while waiting for her husband to pick her up. She was dragged to the Mayor's office and when her excuse wasn't accepted, the Mayor proclaimed her a prostitute and threw her in jail because she couldn't pay the US$30 fine. The husband wasn't notified of the proceedings and only found out from a friend who passed by the scene. The husband then went to rescue his wife. The mayor still denies being in the wrong and Lilis is suing the mayor and administration for US$50,000 for defamation of character.
These municipalities and regencies try to impose shariah like by-laws and are under attack from the government because they don't coincide with the Indonesian constitution.
In Aceh, the people are waking up to the reality that shariah law is not fun and are talking about abandoning it and going back under Indonesian law. The women there completely reject it and men are being caned publicly for playing chess. Shariah was legally adopted in Aceh in 2002 in hopes it would suppress separtist group GAM. It wasn't fully imposed until this year. During my last trip to Aceh for mission work, my friends there complained that they have been slaves to the Dutch, then the Japanese, then the Javanese and now slaves to Shariah law.
Isabella, really, it is so simple:
The society is protected because the rapes don't occur in public. Therefore they didn't really happen, and there is not a rape problem. Women don't have to be worried about being raped, because the reported rape statistics are so low.
They merely have to worry about becoming semen latrines, then being stoned to death under Hudood laws for being such a whore as to let it happen. Besides, if they would just travel with four adult sane pious Muslim males that they can trust at all times, there is not a problem, right? They might still get raped, but unless one of their companions gets killed, blinded, or joins in, and barring that unlikely circumstance (oh, or unless one of the four fails to see the actual penetration pink shot), then she will win her charge of rape, and can happily restore the honor of her family by graciously letting them rid the earth of her soiled flesh.
Imagine if there were NO rules and the women could be raped just right out in the open, where four adult sane pious non-participatory Muslim males might see it and be offended. How scandalous!
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/gang-rapist-claims-right-to-assault/2005/12/09/1134086806845.html
“THE eldest of four Pakistani gang rapist brothers has admitted lying at trial and apologised to his victims but said he thought he had a right to rape the "promiscuous" teenage girls.”
EnglishBlondie,
You might notice something that has been repeatedly pointed out on JW. At least one of the man's lawyer/family said the assailant was mentally ill. All too common a trend when a Muslim in western countries commits a crime. Apparently, they are quite good at trying to work the system.
since when does the leftist al-guardian report on something like this???
EnglishBlondie,
Someone with a good aim should turn those brothers from roosters into hens in a hurry, and stick them in a hole where the sun don't shine so they can't take their pent up frustration out on anyone ever again. And let them contemplate the folly of their misdeeds.
Concerned,
I hear ya'! I just keep thinking about what it must be like for these poor girls. They must be so isolated and feel so very, very alone. Their parents would not stand up for them? Their parents would use this as a form of revenge against them for disobedience? My dad is in his mid-eighties and frail, but he would take out anyone who tried to do that to me.
To be raped and then have it sanctioned by society, the "law" and ones family? I can't stop crying about this. These poor girls. How can we help them?
Isn't this the definition of "Gang Rape"?
For a rape trial to go ahead in Pakistan, four adult Muslim men, 'all of a pious and trustworthy nature', must have witnessed the attack and be willing to testify.
Therefore Islam approves of gang rape.
BTW,
Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Ransom.
"In the 13th century when the terrible Saracen yoke oppressed the greater and more fertile part of Spain, and when many of the faithful were enslaved, at the risk of denying the Christian Faith and losing their eternal salvation, the most blessed Queen of Heaven graciously hastened to remedy these evils, and showed her exceeding charity in ransoming them. For she herself appeared to holy Peter Nolasco, a man noted for his wealth and piety, who, for sometime had been striving to determine means of helping innumerable Christians living in hardship as captives of the Moors. She told him it would be very pleasing to her and to her only Son if a religious order were to be founded in her honor, whose members should devote themselves to delivering captives from the tyranny of the Turks. She likewise appeared to St. Raymund of Pennafort and King James of Aragon, making the same request of them.
Consequently, on August 10, 1218, King James established by decree the royal, military and religious Order of Our Lady of Ransom, and granted to its members the privilege of bearing on their breasts his own arms. The majority were knights, and while clerics recited the Divine Office in the commanderies, they guarded the coasts and delivered the prisoners. It was not long before this noble work spread everywhere. It produced heroes of sanctity and men of incomparable charity who collected alms for the ransom of Christians. Many of them gave themselves up as ransoms to deliver captives."
From, "Heavenly friends, a saint for each day."
And eight hundred years later, we are still fighting this same battle.
I hate spam as much as all of you but this story needs to be shared outside of J/W and D/W. I would rather see this in my inbox than emails about, sex aids, meeting singles, and lowering my bills. IMHO we need to spam everyone of our liberal friends until they ask one simple question "is this true"?
Naseem,
I agree with Ronin. How about you help out and email all of your friendly sharia apologists in Pak this story; here is the link
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/013278.php
I guess the problematic foes over there are called "conservatives", though. No matter, at least they don't have to ask "is this true"?
Ronin, here is an article to email to liberal friends:
http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/02/muslim-rape-epidemic-in-sweden-and.html
What a backward and barbaric society! What kind of person would subject people to this? Only a person without a conscience or real morals.
Sharia law has no place in a modern society. It needs to be stamped out at all costs. Sharia law is not acceptable for anyone anywhere.
. . . and here we still debate whether Islam is salvageable.
When Armitage threatened that the US would bomb Pakistan back into the stone age, it's a pity Musharraf didn't say:"Go on then - do your worst!"
Has that country any redeeming features at all?
have_mercy
Yes. However, most of these women who are getting raped are not the rich, educated, influential and powerful 'radical feminist' 'speakers'/apologists. For example, in Malmo, most non Muslims who can afford to have moved out, it is the poor and the helpless who are left in these areas and who disproportinately suffer the rapes. The same is true in England, it is not the 'feminists' you see on TV who are getting raped. The poor in England are also not generally the ones who would be so interested in the 'himbos'. These are different groups of women.
What a living hell these women have to endure.
What confuses me is why so many of the women continue to be supportive of Islam. After all, there were a lot of women carrying those 'death to the Pope' type signs this past week. Some of them are just as vocal as the men as they spew their hatred. Why on earth would you be defending a system that treats you worse than a criminal - worse than an animal?
(I can understand not wanting to speak out against it, simply out of fear.) But some of these women seem to really believe in it wholeheartedly. Some of the pictures and video I've seen are downright scary. It just makes no sense to me.
Insane.
Stupid.
Lamentable.
Asinine.
Murderous.
ISLAM in a nutshell,in all aspects of life.
1) nasheem is not available due to the several ass-kicking she constantly receives here and at danielpipes.org, especially after her anti-pope fiasco
2) as i said earlier sharia law is ok with muslim women as much as marking the adulteres was ok with puritan women back in our 17th century. It made them feel worthy in comparison with the fornicating women
In the muslim world, when you are a total ZERO you can at least point out "she's a whore and I am not".
it's the war of the poor
So I meant, don't underestimate the supporting role of women for sharia law. Some of them think they benefit from it.
For a rape trial to go ahead in Pakistan, four adult Muslim men, 'all of a pious and trustworthy nature' now considering most muslim men follow
muhamads example and he was a lier nd crooks how would you find 1 man letalone 4
you would have to be dreaming
Mo wrote:
What a living hell these women have to endure.
...............
So true. The "Hudood Laws" seem particuarly evil to me. A woman can abide by all the vicious and humiliating restrictions of Islam--the burka, the arranged and loveless marriages, the polygamy, the bans on education--and *still* be accused of "adultery" when some relative or neighbor decides to rape them. Of course, I'm sure most women tell no one. Woe betide her, though, if she should become pregnant. As though being impregnated by your rapist isn't horrifying enough, here it becomes proof of her "crime".
Evil evil evil
In my new world order, murder of a muslim rapist would only be murder if the following conditions had been met
1) The murder needs to be witnessed by 4 non muslim males and 12 non muslim females
2) The murder weapon needs to be touched by 4 non muslims and a Jew
3) DNA samples must be taken within 10 minutes of the murder taking place
4) The murder must be recorded directly onto DVD
5) The victim and witnesses must have eaten Kosher food in the last week - even non Jewish Mulsims :)
If non of those conditions exist, then it is deemed that NO MURDER has taken place.