Two men sentenced to death for Pakistan gang rape - prosecutors

Kirkland Lake Discoveries

20/03/2021 14:41

By Mubasher Bukhari
    LAHORE, March 20 (Reuters) - Two men were sentenced to death
on Saturday for gang-raping a woman on the side of a highway in
Pakistan last year, an attack that triggered nationwide protests
and calls for tougher laws.
    The men, Abid Malhi and Shafqat Hussain, were convicted of
gang rape, kidnapping, robbery and terrorism offences, according
to a written order released by the judge in the eastern city of
Lahore.
    The woman was raped at the side of a highway in the eastern
province of Punjab after her car ran out of fuel while she was
driving her two children in September.
    Protesters took to the streets saying Pakistan needed to
bring in legal reforms and do more to protect women and children
after a series of high-profile cases.
    Fewer than 3% of sexual assault or rape cases result in a
conviction in Pakistan, according to the Karachi-based group War
Against Rape.
    In December, Pakistan introduced a new rape law, creating
create special courts in a bid to speed up prosecutions and
setting up a national sex offender registry.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2IV46C
    The two condemned men were also sentenced to life
imprisonment, fined and had property confiscated, Rauf Wattoo, a
public prosecutor involved in the case, told Reuters.
    "The survivor had identified the convicts twice during the
identification parade in jail and while recording her statement
in front of the judge," another prosecutor, Waqar Bhatti, said.
    Rights campaigners have called for an end to a culture that
they say regularly blames victims of sexual assault. After the
rape in September, one senior police official publicly
questioned why the woman had been driving alone at night with
her children.

 (Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari; Writing by Charlotte
Greenfield; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
 ((charlotte.greenfield@thomsonreuters.com; +92 300 856 6702;
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