Afghan woman's choice: 12 years in jail or marry her rapist and risk death

[Contrary1]

:cry: "Whether threatened by his family or hers, for now, jail may be the safest place for her."

"Kabul (CNN) -- The ordeal of Gulnaz did not simply begin and end with the physical attack of her rape. The rape began a years-long nightmare of further pain, culminating in an awful choice she must now make.

Even two years later, Gulnaz remembers the smell and state of her rapist's clothes when he came into the house when her mother left for a brief visit to the hospital.

<snip>

After the attack, she hid what happened as long as she could. But soon she began vomiting in the mornings and showing signs of pregnancy. It was her attacker's child.

In Afghanistan, this brought her not sympathy, but prosecution. Aged just 19, she was found guilty by the courts of sex outside of marriage -- adultery -- and sentenced to twelve years in jail.

Now inside Kabul's Badam Bagh jail, she and her child are serving her sentence together..."

More: http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/22/world/asia/afghanistan-rape/index.html?iref=obnetwork

[dkf]

1. Why can't we give her asylum?

Isn't this the sort of thing it's for?

[Quantess]

2. No kidding.

USA takes in such a paltry few refugees compared to some other countries. It's first and foremost the USA who should take in the lions share of refugees from countries that we have military occupations in.

[Mojeoux]

5. I agree.

The only thing that would be positive about the stupid wars in the middle east would be if the backwards treatment of women was addressed.

Well, that's a wash.

Shit

:grr:

[TheMadMonk]

6. Because that would be "counterproductive" to US - Afghan relations.

Giving her asylum would piss off too many people important to US interests.

My understanding is that the US has a very, very poor track record when it comes to offering asylum to individuals unless there is some specific advantage to the US.

[saras]

3. Fundamentalism sucks, and it's always used by scum who suck even more

[tblue]

4. Punishing women for having sex.

It's almost everywhere. Damn them over there for tormenting this poor woman and her baby. That is just insane!!!!

Gee I'm glad we went to war over there amd defeated tthe Taliban. It's been so worth it.

If we can swoop into Pakistan and kill Osama, why can't we get this woman out of harms way? Heck, let's bring all the women here if they want to come. I swear if I could I would.

[TheMadMonk]

9. Women certainly tend to "get it worse" in most parts of the world.

However, her gender would not have figured positively in the US's calculations. The simple fact that giving her asylum would upset the wrong people would be more than reason enough to ignore her need.

Taliban misogyny was never more than a convenient excuse for occupation. The "Reality" of having to deal with exactly the same men in a post Taliban means that one was very quickly sacrificed for the "larger good".

[Odin2005]

7. And yet the Cultural Relativists say we have to "respect their culture"!

:grr:

[octothorpe]

8. This kinda throws out the "Think what would happen to the women and children if we left" argument

We're there and it's still happening.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

10. Or, alternatively, it reinforces it.

Things like this happen, but are probably not as common or widespread as they will become after the US withdraws.

[octothorpe]

13. If NATO's presence there stops such things, then why is this taking place?

This isn't some nuts taking some sort of vigilante actions against this poor woman. This is being done by the institutions of Afghanistan. This is stuff that our presence there should be able to prevent (as opposed to some nut throwing acid in his daughter or wife's face)

[Frank Jameson]

11. There is something very evil about any culture

that holds a female guilty of adultery -- for being raped by a married man.

It doesn't get anymore insane than that.

We have thousands of troops in Afghanistan. If I were President, I'd pick up the phone and call whatever native is in charge of that dung heap -- and I'd get her released.

[Rex]

12. What kind of law punishes the woman for getting raped?

A fucked up, unbelievably evil law imo. :mad: