[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 15


PAKISTAN:

Pakistani legislators approve amendments to rape law


Pakistani lawmakers passed amendments to the country's contentious rape
laws Wednesday, ditching the death penalty for extramarital sex and
softening a clause on making rape victims produce 4 witnesses to prove the
case.

The government-backed amendments enraged Islamic fundamentalists, but won
cautious support from human rights activists, who called for the strict
laws to be scrapped altogether.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf praised lawmakers for passing the bill and
criticized Islamists for their "unnecessary" opposition and accusations
that his government was acting against Islam.

"I have taken a firm decision to change these unjust rape laws as it was
necessary to amend them to protect women," Musharraf said in a live
televised address to the nation.

Pakistan's late military dictator, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, introduced the laws,
known as the Hudood Ordinance, in 1979 to appease powerful Islamist
political groups opposed to the secularization of Pakistani society.

Human rights activists and moderates have long condemned them for
punishing  instead of protecting  victims of rape by placing the burden of
proof on victims and providing safeguards, such as the need for 4
eyewitnesses, to their attackers.

The changes, which Musharraf urged the parliament's government-run Senate
to approve within days, come amid efforts by Islamabad to soften the
country's hard-line Islamic image and appease moderates and human rights
groups opposed to the laws.

Pro-Islamic lawmakers, opposed to any change to the existing laws, stormed
out of the National Assembly in protest of the passage of the new
legislation, known as the Protection of Women Bill.

"We reject it," Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a top Islamist opposition leader,
told reporters after the vote, which he described as a "dark day" in
Pakistan's parliamentary history.

Rahman and other Islamists said they would devise a strategy to block the
Senate passing the bill. Powerful Islamic political groups have previously
staged mass rallies to denounce moves by the military-led government
deemed contrary to Islam.

Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless 1999 coup, also used his
speech to urge Pakistanis to support "moderate and progressive forces" and
"reject extremist elements" at next year's elections for the parliament,
which under the constitution is charged with selecting the country's
president.

The amendments were passed by a majority of the 342-member assembly,
including Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who said it marked "a historic day"
for the country.

"Nothing is against Islam in this bill," Aziz said, adding that the
amendments were made in consultation with Islamic scholars, lawmakers and
human rights activists.

The amendments include dropping the death penalty and flogging for people
convicted of having consensual sex outside marriage and giving judges
discretion to try rape cases in a criminal rather than Islamic court,
where victims must present at least four witnesses for a conviction.

Consensual non-marital sex remains a crime punishable by five years in
prison or a 10,000 rupees (US$165, euro129) fine, said a parliamentary
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the media.

Hina Jillani, a top female Pakistani human rights activist, praised the
government for taking practical steps to amend the rape law, but demanded
more legislation to ensure the protection of women's rights.

"The government has made some positive changes by passing this bill, but
it does not meet our demands," said Jillani, of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan. "We wanted a total repeal of the 1979 rape law,
but the government has not done it."

International and local calls for change intensified after the 2002
gang-rape of a woman, Mukhtar Mai, who was assaulted after a tribal
council in her eastern Punjab village ordered the rape as punishment for
her 13-year-old brother's alleged affair with a woman of a higher caste.

Discussion on the new bill broke down in September after the government
failed to win support from opposition Islamic groups, particularly for
abolishing the need for 4 witnesses to a rape.

In a compromise, the government proposed the clause allowing a judge to
try cases in either a criminal court or in an Islamic court. Strict
Islamic law dictates that a woman claiming rape must produce 4 witnesses,
making a trial of the alleged rapist almost impossible.

The new bill also removed the right of police to detain people suspected
of having sex outside of marriage, instead requiring an individual to make
a formal accusation directly to a court and not the police.

Ali Dayan Hasan, a South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the
Pakistani government had "failed to remove provisions criminalizing
adultery" but had provided "partial relief" by repealing the death
sentence.

"The Pakistani government remains in violation of its international
obligations on ending discrimination against women," Hasan told The
Associated Press.

(source: Associated Press)