For Afghan Woman, Justice Runs Into Unforgiving Wall of Custom -She must marry the man who raped her

[groovedaddy]

KABUL, Afghanistan — When the Afghan government announced Thursday that it would pardon a woman who had been imprisoned for adultery after she reported that she had been raped, the decision seemed a clear victory for the many women here whose lives have been ground down by the Afghan justice system.

But when the announcement also made it clear that there was an expectation that the woman, Gulnaz, would agree to marry the man who raped her, the moment instead revealed the ways in which even efforts guided by the best intentions to redress violence against women here run up against the limits of change in a society where cultural practices are so powerful that few can resist them, not even the president.

The solution holds grave risks for Gulnaz, who uses one name, since the man could be so humiliated that he might kill his accuser, despite the risk of prosecution, or abuse her again.

The decision from the government of President Hamid Karzai is all the more poignant coming as Western forces prepare to leave Afghanistan, underscoring the unfinished business of advancing women’s rights here, and raising questions of what will happen in the future to other women like Gulnaz.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/world/asia/for-afghan-woman-justice-runs-into-the-static-wall-of-custom.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha3

[guardian]

1. Funny how

women's rights groups never seem to criticize the violence against women and subjugation of women in the Islamic culture.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

2. You don't pay attention much, do you?

Women's Rights groups have been all over the treatment of women under Sharia law, to the point that some were advocating the continued presence of American troops in Afghanistan as a means to protect the women there.

[seabeyond]

4. really? how in the fuck do you draw such an assinine conclusion?

in stead of a disgust for a society that allows rape, imprisonment adn forced marriage to rapist.

amazing your priorities.

[msongs]

3. now immigrating to a country near you nt