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From: saquigley@watmath.UUCP (Sophie Quigley)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Martillo's Rape Cure
Message-ID: <7431@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 1-Apr-84 12:44:36 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.7431
Posted: Sun Apr  1 12:44:36 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 2-Apr-84 00:58:17 EST
References: <6976@unc.UUCP>, <370@ihuxt.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 36


From what I understand of Islamic law, a rape can be legally
recognised as a rape only if there were four witnesses to
the act.  This would seem to eliminate the majority of rapes
wouldn't it?  It might account for the reason why there are
so few rapes in islamic countries.

From what I understand of islamic law again, a raped woman
who cannot prove that she has been raped might be punished
for "fornication" (or islamic equivalent) if evidence
against her is found, such as the presence of a child.  Of
course the same law applies to men, except that in their
case "evidence" is much harder to find.

I learned all this from a newspaper clipping of a recent
rape cae in Pakistan where the "alleged" victim was raped
by two men relatives of her.  Her case was dismissed in
islamic court due to unsufficient lack of evidence (they
didn't have a party), but when she bore a child out of
wedlock a few months later as a result of those rapes,
she was convicted of "improper behavior" (I am not sure
what the charge is exactly since I got the terminology
from arab to english via swedish which I don't even know)
and sentenced to prison.  Her case was appealed by her
father and she was finally freed, but NOTHING happened
to her rapists.

Under these circumstances, I don't believe many women
would be tempted to report any rapes that might happen
if it means that not only her rapists will go free, but
there is a chance that she might be imprisonned too.
It would be sheer stupidity to report rape under these
circumstances.

				Sophie Quigley
			...!{decvax,allegra}!watmath!saquigley