"Knud Larsen" <larsen_knud@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:42303ded$0$29092$157c6196@dreader1.cybercity.dk...
>
> "Anna Lyttiger" <Anna_Lyttiger@gmail.dot.invalid> wrote in message
> news:42303cf3$0$305$edfadb0f@dread11.news.tele.dk...
>> "Rune" <rune@spam.spam> skrev i meddelelsen
>> news:42303938$0$29279$14726298@news.sunsite.dk:
>>
>>> Læste den godt i avisen. Men nu jeg ser det igen undre det mig lidt
>>> den er skrevet fra Tokyo?
>>
>> I disse computer-tider kunne den liså godt være skrevet på hawaii.
>
> Det er rigtigt, korrespondenten ville også på Hawaii kunne få masser af
> sushi og gå til fester med geisha-opvartning.
Her er historien fra HiPakistan, som man også kan læse uden at være på
"Hanauma Bay" på Oahu:
LHC acquits accused in Mukhtar Mai gang-rape case
MULTAN: A division bench of the Lahore High Court here acquitted five
convicts who had been sentenced to death for allegedly ordering a woman
gang-raped as punishment for her brother's alleged illicit sex with a woman
besides reducing the death sentence of the prime accused to life in prison
after the proceedings of three consecutive days on Thursday.
The division bench comprising Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Justice
Mehmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui acquitted Ghulam Fareed Mastoi, Fayyaz
Hussain Mastoi, Faiz Bakhsh, Ramzan Pujar and Allah Ditta "s the evidence
was so deficient to warrant the capital punishment."
The death sentence earlier awarded to Abdul Khaliq Mastoi was commuted
to life term (25 years). The detailed judgment is to be issued later. The
Punchayat chief, Faiz M Mastoi, was also acquitted of the charges and the
court quashed the judgment earlier passed by the anti terrorism court of
Dera Ghazi Khan on August 31, 2002.
Defence counsel Malik M Salim said it was not a fit case for death
sentence and the verdict of the anti-terrorism court was largely influenced
by the media hype. The rape of the woman in 2002 in a mud-brick house in
Meerwala village made world headlines, and led the government to promise
sweeping changes in the system.
The village Punchayat ordered Mukhtar Mai be gang-raped in punishment
for "her brother Abdul Shakoor had sexually assaulted Mastoi tribe's girl
Salma." However, Mukhtar Mai contended that Jamil Punnu and Manzoor abducted
her brother and subjected him to sodomy. "And it was to cover up this act
that the story of the sexual assault by her brother was concocted."
The Punchayat was convened to decide on the "illicit relations between
Shakoor and Salma" at Meerwala in Tehsil Jatoi in 2002 that mostly comprised
Mastoi Baloch tribe. The Punchayat during its first round proposed that
Salma be married off to Abdul Shakoor and in exchange Mukhtar Mai be engaged
to any son of Imam Buksh. The proposal could not be materialised as the
Mastois demanded that Mukhtar Mai appear in Punchayat to seek pardon on
behalf of her brother.
So Mukhtar Mai's maternal uncle Sabir Hussain along with her father
and eyewitnesses brought her to the Punchayat. Abdul Khaliq, Ghulam Farid, M
Fayyaz and Allah Ditta allegedly took Mai forcibly to a room in Abdul Khaliq's
house where she was allegedly subjected to gang rape.
Later, Mai emerged in a semi-naked state in the public, her father,
maternal uncle among other eyewitnesses said. Her father and other witnesses
removed her to home. A case was registered on 30th June, 2002.
Agencies add: Mukhtar Mai was in court and wept upon hearing the court's
decision. "I am in pain. I will ask my lawyer to challenge this decision,"
she told reporters. Mai came forward publicly following the attack in an
effort to press the government to seek justice, and her name has been widely
published. She has been honoured by human rights groups in Pakistan for her
courage. In their ruling, judges said there were contradictions in
statements of witnesses and the case prepared by the prosecution, said a
lawyer.
Og et læserbrev fra "Dawn":
Mukhtar Mai is devastated but standing tall. She vows to fight and
plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. The burden of proof in our system
rests with the victim. Failure to prove allegations in a sexual assault case
can have potentially disastrous consequences.
The victim could easily be turned into a proven offender of "qazf" or
slander, punishable with whipping (100 lashes) or capital punishment
depending upon the circumstances of the case.
The majority of sexual assault cases in Pakistan deals with
plaintiffs, witnesses and defendants who are illiterate and have no formal
education. The police record their statements in plain Urdu or one of the
local dialects.
These records are then translated into English for the courts,
creating discrepancies or outright omissions. In some cases the omissions
are deliberate and are intended to help the defendants, especially if they
know people in higher circles.
In almost all such cases victims sign statements that they cannot read
or understand. Introduction of evidence that is marred by shabby and often
tainted police work, inadequate documentation and poor record-keeping by the
police, do not bode well for the victim. It is relatively easy to find
discrepancies within the records once they are reviewed by the higher
courts.
Given the inconsistencies in the record, it is not uncommon for
appellate courts to favour the defendant. You couple a poorly documented
case with a good defence lawyer and the rapists can be home free.
It is argued that probably the stiffer penalties for sexual assaults
comprise one of the reasons for the courts to err on to the side of
defendant. These harsher capital punishments were brought into the system by
the Zina and Hudood Ordinances.
In order to justify capital punishment the courts invariably have to
set higher evidentiary standards. Inconsistencies, omissions, faulty or
tainted evidence are valid grounds for acquittal.
The current Hudood laws are probably too idealistic. There is a lack
of alternative or lesser punishment under sub-section (4) of section 10 of
the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood Ordinance, 1979). Thus, if death
cannot be awarded due to inadequate evidence, the accused has to be
acquitted.
The judicial system appears helpless in such cases. On the one hand,
it provides for harsher capital punishment for the rapists and, on the
other, it sets the stage against the victims in a way that a conviction
becomes unattainable.
Lesser penalties, including longer jail terms or life imprisonment,
coupled with a higher conviction rate, could be a compromise that could be
more practical. The idea, after all, is to get all rapists off the streets
and locked up for good. In the current judicial system they end up right on
the street, simply by default.
NAUMAN NISAR