Laura King: Jailed Afghan rape victim wins pardon after agreeing to marry attacker

Laura King, LA Times, 2 December 2011

REPORTING FROM KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — President Hamid Karzai has pardoned a jailed rape victim, but only after she agreed to marry the man she says raped her.

The 19-year-old woman, whose name is Gulnaz, was one of the subjects of a documentary recently produced by the European Union, highlighting the phenomenon of rape victims being imprisoned for the “moral crime” of having sex outside marriage, even against their will.

Karzai’s office said in a statement Thursday evening that the president had accepted a recommendation from a special judicial committee that the woman be pardoned and freed — “taking into consideration the consent of both sides for a conditional wedlock.”

Gulnaz became pregnant as a result of the rape and gave birth in prison.

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H/T: “Rape and Morality in Kabul and Washington” by John Glaser.