Infidels Are Cool

The Afghan women jailed for being victims of rape

11:12 am on August 18, 2008 by Kal

Gang raped by muslim jihadis with guns? Forced at age 14 to marry a 50 year old and got sick of the abuse, and ran away? You’re going to jail, if you are a muslimah in Afghanistan.

Beneath the anonymity of the sky-blue burqa, Saliha’s slender frame and voice betray her young age.Asked why she was serving seven years in jail alongside hardened insurgents and criminals, the 15-year-old giggled and buried her head in her friend’s shoulder.

“She is shy,” apologised fellow inmate Zirdana, explaining that the teenager had been married at a young age to an abusive husband and ran away with a boy from her neighbourhood.

Asked whether she had loved the boy, Saliha squirmed with childish embarrassment as her friend replied: “Yes.”

Ostracised from her family and village, Saliha was convicted of escaping from home and illegal sexual relations. The first carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, the second 20. These are two of the most common accusations facing female prisoners in Afghanistan.

Two-thirds of the women in Lashkar Gah’s medieval-looking jail have been convicted of illegal sexual relations, but most are simply rape victims – mirroring the situation nationwide. The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man.

Sitting among the plastic flowers around his desk, where an optimistic United Nations scales of justice poster competed for space with images of Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, Colonel Ghulam Ali, a high-ranking regional security officer, explained sternly that he supported the authorities’ right to convict victims of rape. “In Afghanistan whether it is forced or not forced it is a crime because the Islamic rules say that it is,” he claimed. “I think it is good. There are many diseases that can be created in today’s world, such as HIV, through illegal sexual relations.”

But there are signs of progress. A female shura, or consultative council, was established in Helmand province last week to try to combat the injustice of treating an abused woman as a criminal, and not a victim. British officers and Afghan government officials from the province’s reconstruction team are also overseeing a project to build humane accommodation for the 400 male and female prisoners.

Read the rest of these womens’ stories in The Independent.

There Are 3 Responses So Far. »

Tonto (USA) on 18 August 2008:

Another demonstration of the twisted, illogical mindset in the muslimanutcase world. These people are really mentally challenged and/or stupified by their moon-god worship. I haven’t been able to figure out which it is yet. Maybe it’s brain damage from knocking their heads on the ground.
Philip Saenz on 18 August 2008:

It’s Islam. How else can you explain it? Muslims are mentally diseased, but what can you do about it? Muslims are allowed to have sex even with an infant so long as they “do not penetrate.” In reality, diseased Muslims should be locked up. Muslims have a screwed up mind and do everything in reverse. They’re dangerous. They should be locked up. If the law doesn’t do something about these screwballs, I know that people will take the law into their own hands. Things could get out of hand.
jennyjen on 19 August 2008:

Its a crime against humanity and all things good and decent in this world. Making young girls throw away their innocence so a 50 year old man can get his rocks off. I’ve always felt pedophiles and rapists deserve public hangings and this just makes me wanna tie the noose myself!
Its a cryin’ shame we can’t just exterminate these fuckers without the human rights groups throwing an international fit! They want to defend Islam and it’s not worth defending! “It’s a religion and they should be able to practice” they whine…well cry me a fuckin river why don’t ya! What about the victims of Islam, where’s the sympathy for them?