Some of you may be following this case, which has received international attention in the last three years. In 2002, Mukhtaran Bibi was publicly gang-raped by four men in her village as punishment for something her brother was accused of doing. In an unprecedented move, Ms. Bibi took her attackers to court where they were tried and convicted under anti-terrorism laws. She was awarded monetary damages, and used the money to open an elementary school in her village, which she started attending. Here's what happened next:
2004:
Two years after the gang rape, two men of the Matsoi tribe were
sentenced to imprisonment for sodomising Shakur, Mukhtaran's 12 yr old brother.
March 2005:
The Multan bench of the Lahore High Court acquitted five of the six convicts, while deciding appeals against the judgement of the anti-terrorism court. The death sentence of the sixth convict was changed into life term. Mukhtaran is invited to speak in the U.S.
June 2005
Rapists freed and Mukhtaran is under House arrest. Mukhtaran is put on Exit control list(ECL). International buzz about the case grows; Pakistani citizens are embarrassed about the negative P.R. Mukhtaran is removed from ECL list, but her passport is seized.
The Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women, the organization that had invited Mukhtaran Bibi to speak in the U.S., is organizing protests in New York and D.C. this week. At this website you can send a letter to Pakistani President Musharraf (I just did!).
Also see the New York Times columns on the subject written by Nicholas Kristof.
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