Posted on 12/06/2011 10:06:41 AM PST by WackySam
Much has changed in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion 10 years ago. But in many ways, women are no better off than they were when the Taliban ruled.
CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports there is a young woman there who has been in prison for two years for hard-to-believe crime under Afghan law.
Gulnaz was 19 years old when she was tied up and raped by her cousin's husband. The attack left her traumatized and pregnant. But when she reported it to the police, instead of being protected, she was thrown in jail.
"I do feel like I am being punished twice. I don't know why Afghanistan has this law," she said through a translator.
Her attacker was married, so she was sentenced to three years for adultery. She gave birth to a daughter, Mushgan, on the prison floor over a year ago.
"Women aren't often seen as victims. They're just seen often as less than cattle," said Kim Motley, Gulnaz's lawyer.
Motley is an American lawyer representing Gulnaz. She took on her case to highlight the injustice and prejudice Afghan women face.
"Culturally, it's okay to charge someone who's been raped with adultery because, indirectly, they must have consented to it," Motley said.
Gulnaz only has three options: One is to stay in jail; two is to marry her rapist to legitimize her daughter; the third is to live underground and face death threats for the rest of her life.
Death threats happen because a woman's reputation is everything in this ultra-conservative society. Women are often shunned or even killed for bringing dishonor to the family. More than 300 women currently in prison face a similar situation. But what makes Gulnaz's case different is that she's received a presidential pardon due to the publicity around her case.
Given her options, Gulnaz has decided to marry her rapist, becoming his second wife, and trading her cell for what she believes is another kind of prison.
"Yes, he ruined my life but I have no other options. It is because of my daughter that I am doing this," she said.
Getting married is the only way she can ensure a future for her daughter.
Additionally, in another strange twist, under Afghan law, the man can't marry until he's free. So Gulnaz, the victim, has to officially forgive him -- to get him out of prison -- so they can marry.
Celebrate Diversity!!
America 2025.
I saw this on the news yesterday... what a bankrupt society islam produces.
I have seen many stories similiar to this. It is your typical Islamic society.
Uh....exctly what kind of future are we talking about here.
And we are spilling American blood to preserve this maddness exactly WHY?
~~~~~~~~~~~
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.
The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the infence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.
It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
They have been practicing this level of stupidity for centuries.
Obviously, life (so much as it is,) goes on.
“And we are spilling American blood to preserve this maddness exactly WHY?”
Because our Goddamned politicians are recieving blood money from the f*king muslims.
Thank gawd the the women’s rights groups, the UN and ACLU are working for change in this area.
Wait, has Afganistan been accepted to the UN and placed on the humans rights committee yet? They must be falling behind.
obviously we need to stay another 10 years and spend another trillion and lose another couple thousand US lives.
Because it legitimizes the child in their culture, if you can call that a culture.
Works for me. Give her a pistol as a wedding gift. Ten seconds after the ceremony, a widow with a restored reputation and honor begins her new life.
They are ultra-conservative because they strive to conserve that 7th Century lifestyle they are so fond of...
I’d like to send a suitable wedding present. Is there a book titled “Memoirs of Lorenna Bobbit”? How about “Lizzie Borden’s Diary”?
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