seattle post/intelligencer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani lawmakers passed amendments to the country's rape laws Wednesday, ditching the death penalty for extramarital sex and easing a clause on making rape victims produce four witnesses to prove the case.
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The amendments include dropping the death penalty and flogging for people convicted of having consensual sex outside marriage and giving judges discretion to try rape cases in a criminal rather than Islamic court. Strict Islamic law dictates that a woman claiming rape must produce four witnesses, making a trial almost impossible.
Consensual sex outside marriage remains a crime punishable by five years in prison or a $165 fine [~$.09/day]
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"We reject it," Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a top Islamist opposition leader, told reporters after the vote, which he described as a "dark day" in Pakistan's parliamentary history.
translation: "gay marriage, here we come!"***
The amendments include dropping the death penalty and flogging for people convicted of having consensual sex outside marriage and giving judges discretion to try rape cases in a criminal rather than Islamic court. Strict Islamic law dictates that a woman claiming rape must produce four witnesses, making a trial almost impossible.
Consensual sex outside marriage remains a crime punishable by five years in prison or a $165 fine [~$.09/day]
***
"We reject it," Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a top Islamist opposition leader, told reporters after the vote, which he described as a "dark day" in Pakistan's parliamentary history.