Rape and Related Issues by Bassam Imam - HTML preview

PLEASE NOTE: This is an HTML preview only and some elements such as links or page numbers may be incorrect.
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.

Al-Aoula television  quoted a physician at Ibn Tofail Hospital in Marrakesh where Khaoula was treated, Khaoula had been "struck in the face 50 times and had wounds on her hands and arms."

The incident apparently occurred because Khaoula had filed a divorce document one year after she was forced to marry her rapist-husband.

According to several Moroccan media sources, Khaoula's husband said, "I swear that nobody will marry you after me."

The alleged incident came just a few months after the Moroccan Government removed a law that allowed rapists to marry their victims to avoid being imprisoned.

 Mapendo Simbey, the father of an 11 year-old Malawi girl named Mwaka sold her off into marrying a man 30 years her senior, to pay a bill. Mwaka's first duty was to be a servant to her new husband's first wife. Her parents never asked for her opinion regarding the marriage.

Mwaka was one of the luckier ones. She fled her husband's home and was miraculously taken back by her parents six months later.

Rawan, an 8 year-old child bride from a forced marriage died of internal bleeding on her wedding night. Her Jhusband' was believed to be roughly 40 years-old.

The marriage and death of Rawan occurred in a tribal region of Hardh, located near the Saudi border. Expectedly, Yemeni activists are calling for the arrest of the groom and Rawan's family (for forcing this marriage upon the child, and for what ensued).

Activists and supporters believe that arrests will help to curb future forced child marriages in Yemen. Forced child and young womens' marriages are common in Yemen. One of the issues relating to this practice is the widespread poverty in the country. The groom or his family may offer the potential bride's family a hefty bride price; even a few hundred dollars is a lot of money in the poverty-stricken areas of Yemen.

"The man the groom is an animal who deserved to be punished severely for his crime ... all those who supported such a crime should also be punished," Posted by an anonymous Blogger.

"Rawan's family members are not humans. They do not deserve to have children," Posted by Omar, A Blogger.

"Her family and her groom could have waited for some time before having this marriage," Posted by Sad, a Blogger. (By Matt Blake, October 23, 2013; Daily Mail: Yemeni Child Bride, Eight, Dies of Internal Injuries on First Night of Forced Marriage to Groom Five Times Her Age)

In August of 2013, a 6 year-old Indian girl living in the village of Keshavpura,  located in the Kota district of Rajasthan, India was locked in a room by a 40 year-old man and then raped.

Her parents chose not to go to the police, instead they complained to council elders. Shockingly, the elders told the victim's parents that she must marry the 8 year-old son of the rapist. Worse yet, it is believed that the rapist attacked the young victim a second time. Child marriages in Rajasthan occur regularly.

"He locked her in a room and raped her. Instead of registering a police complaint, elders belonging to the girl's caste called a Panchayat (Village Council) meeting," said a  police spokesman. (Sophie Jane Evans, September 5, 2013; Daily Mail: Indian Rape Victim, Six, is Forced to Marry Eight Year-old Son of the JMan who Attacked her)

A 15 year-old Saudi girl who was forced to marry an 86 year-old man has been granted a divorce, partly due to The Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) bringing the case to light.

Bandar Al-Ayban, the head of the SHRC said that their organization raised the case lafter learning of the marriage of a minor girl to an 86 year-old man in Jizan ... the SHRC provided legal assistance to the girl so she could get a divorce."

As reported by the Al-Hayat Daily, the bride locked herself inside the bedroom before escaping from her husband's home, returning to her parents.

Saudi Arabia does not have any laws against child marriage, clerics and religious judges justify this practice based on Saudi tradition and their own interpretation of Islam.

In 2010, a 14 year-old girl who was born in Birmingham, England was forced at gunpoint by her father, to marry a man in Pakistan who was 24 years-old. The bride returned to England following her pregnancy.

Regarding this case, Mr. Justice Holman said, "The girl has given an account of the circumstances surrounding that marriage which are, frankly, harrowing ... The marriage was consummated about two weeks later after further threats to her if she did not permit her husband, who was then aged about 24, to have sexual intercourse with her. As a result, while still aged 14, she became pregnant." (By Hannah Osborne, November 6, 2013; INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: Birmingham Girl, 14, Forced to Marry Man at Gunpoint in Pakistan)

In April of 2014 the outlawed terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 275 innocent girls from Chibok School, in Borno State in North-eastern Nigeria. A small number of girls were able to escape, the remaining are in the hands of extremely violent persons.

Within a short period of time it became apparent to Boko Haram, the people of Nigeria, and the rest of the world that the Nigerian authorities were either unwilling to or were incapable of taking major steps to bring back the kidnapped girls, with the exception of a 300 thousand dollar reward offered by the Borno State governor for information that would lead to the girls' manumission. Government corruption in Nigeria is commonplace.

lIt's alarming that more than a week after these girls were abducted, there are not any concrete steps to get them back," said Mausi Segun, of Human Rights Watch's Nigeria researcher.

 (Larisa Epatko, April 22, 2014; PBS Newshour World: Why Does Boko Haram Kidnap Girls in Nigeria?)

Girls who were able to escape describe a horrible, painful captivity including rape, forced marriage and labour and forced religious conversions, physical torture and mental abuse.

In the past females had been kidnapped and held in Boko Haram camps. But this particular school kidnapping is the grandest in scale. The men are battle-hardened criminals ruled by a violent, megalomaniacal psychopath. Therefore, mercy upon any of