Oh, the Ring is so shiny....
Mar. 11th, 2005 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleI'm sure that many people will remark on the news (which I read in the Boston Globe-- http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/03/11/gang_rape_victim_in_pakistan_is_dealt_legal_blow?pg=full)
that four of the five men who raped Mukhtaran Bibi have had their rape convictions overturned on appeal in Afghanistan. This is the young woman whose brother was accused of having sex with a woman from a rival tribe*, so to make 'restitution' for this 'honor crime', she was raped by five total strangers from that tribe on the spot. She then walked home naked and bleeding. International outcry prodded the government to step in, and the five men were tried and convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Bibi was awarded a settlement of about $200,000, which she then used to build two schools in her village (one for boys, one for girls). Illiterate, she then started attending the girls school.
Because of the recent ruling, Bibi is now in danger from her attackers, and while the government has sworn to protect her and advocate for her in her appeal to the supreme court, the government's past track record does not inspire confidence.
It's moments like this when I really, no-kidding, want to the absolute iron-fisted ruler of the world. I really do know better than most people, it seems, because I can understand the simple notion that women are people and that what those men did was horribly wrong, and it doesn't matter if they're your brothers, they are evil men and deserve to execution. I know that this would mean becoming just another evil man myself, but right now it's awfully tempting.
* The cherry on top of this horrible story is that the initial accusation against her brother was probably a lie, anyway.
that four of the five men who raped Mukhtaran Bibi have had their rape convictions overturned on appeal in Afghanistan. This is the young woman whose brother was accused of having sex with a woman from a rival tribe*, so to make 'restitution' for this 'honor crime', she was raped by five total strangers from that tribe on the spot. She then walked home naked and bleeding. International outcry prodded the government to step in, and the five men were tried and convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Bibi was awarded a settlement of about $200,000, which she then used to build two schools in her village (one for boys, one for girls). Illiterate, she then started attending the girls school.
Because of the recent ruling, Bibi is now in danger from her attackers, and while the government has sworn to protect her and advocate for her in her appeal to the supreme court, the government's past track record does not inspire confidence.
It's moments like this when I really, no-kidding, want to the absolute iron-fisted ruler of the world. I really do know better than most people, it seems, because I can understand the simple notion that women are people and that what those men did was horribly wrong, and it doesn't matter if they're your brothers, they are evil men and deserve to execution. I know that this would mean becoming just another evil man myself, but right now it's awfully tempting.
* The cherry on top of this horrible story is that the initial accusation against her brother was probably a lie, anyway.
