En omstridt paragraf i Jordans straffelov giver en voldtægtsmand mulighed for at undgå straf ved at gifte sig med sit offer. Og hvis den forulempede kvinde er blevet gravid, har hun ingen mulighed for abort eller for at beholde barnet som ugift.
AMMAN, 27 January 2014 (IRIN): Shop cleaner Nawal (not her real name) from East Amman regrets the day she accepted an offer of extra work from her employer, who said he wanted her to clean his home. It was a trap; he took her home and raped her.
Although an investigation proved her allegations (anklager), she says the legal process did not bring justice. Her rapist benefited from controversial article 308 in Jordan’s penal code, which allows rapists to escape jail if they marry their victims and stay with them for five years.
“Marrying a rape victim to her rapist is committing a second crime against her. It is the rapist who should be punished,” said Munir Idiabes, the executive director of Sisterhood Is a Global Institute (SIGI), a locally based women’s rights group.
But some legal experts argue the article leaves women the choice not to marry their assailants (overfaldsmænd).
Bliv gift og undgå social ‘skam’
“Women and their families do not have to accept it, and in some cases families demand the rapist is prosecuted,” Fawzi Al- Nahar, a judge and head of Jordan’s Grand Criminal Court, told IRIN. “It remains as an option for those who want to marry their daughters [off] and avoid the social stigma,” he said.
But women’s activists argue that women and their families may feel they have little choice. Their decision is influenced not only by social pressure to “cover a scandal” but also by difficulties brought about by other laws, especially those covering abortion and proof of parental lineage (faderskab).
Nawal intended to keep quiet about the rape until the day she discovered she was pregnant. Most rape cases remain unreported unless there is pregnancy involved, say women’s rights activists and social workers.
Abort forbudt også for ofte for voldtægt og blodskam
Abortion is prohibited in Jordan – even for rape survivors or in cases of incest – unless the pregnancy could lead to the mother’s death.
“I started taking massive pain killers, vitamins, even tried punching my belly with my hands… pushing a gas cylinder on to my belly to abort the child,” she said. But after her efforts failed, she decided to report the incident to her family and the police.
The investigation and the results of a DNA test corroborated bekræftede) Nawal’s allegations, but rather than see her attacker punished, she found herself battling parental lineage laws (familielovgivning).
Giftede sig med voldtægtsmanden
To prove a child’s parental lineage, the father’s confession and a marriage contract are required, according to Judge Ashraf Omari from the Islamic Chief of Justice Department.
“Each case has its particularities, but in order to register a child with his father, a legal marriage contract is required,” said Omari.
“I had no choice but to marry him because I did not want to lose my child,” said Nawal. Children born out of wedlock are often removed from their mother’s care. They also face a lifetime of discrimination.
A small wedding ceremony took place, and the perpetrator escaped a jail sentence.
“I do not remember the party, because I did not care,” Nawal said. “All I had on my mind was the life sentence I was going to serve in the house where I was raped.”
Læs hele artiklen på: http://www.irinnews.org/report/99544/getting-away-with-sexual-abuse-in-jordan
