I THOUGHT THIS ARTICLE WAS INTERESTING ON AT LEAST A COUPLE OF POINTS:
TWO PEOPLE WERE RAPED HERE.

WHAT SEXUAL AGGRESSION IS CALLED
DEPENDING ON GENDER. (RAPE/SODOMY)

NOT A MENTION OF WHAT WAS FELT ABOUT
THE BROTHER'S EXPERIENCE.

SEXUAL ABUSE OF MALES AND FEMALES TOO
COMMONPLACE TO BE CONSIDERED AN ISSUE?

NEITHER BOYS NOR GIRLS ARE SAFE.

FORCED SEX SANCTIONED BY THE COMMUNITY
AS AN APPROPRIATE PUNISHMENT FOR MEN
AND WOMEN.










Six men found guilty in gang rape

August 31, 2002 Posted: 10:31 PM EDT (0231 GMT)

DERA GHAZI KHAN, Pakistan -- A
judge sentenced six men to death by
hanging Sunday for their roles in the
gang rape of a woman whose brother
was accused of having relations with a
higher-caste woman, the prosecutor
said.

A judge in an anti-terrorism court trial in
Dera Ghazi Khan convicted four of the
men of raping 30-year-old Mukhtaran
Bibi, said prosecuting attorney Malik
Ramzan Joya.

Two other men were convicted of abetting
the rape. They were part of a 10-person
tribal council that authorized the rape. The
other eight members were acquitted.

After Bibi's brother was accused of having
relations with a higher-caste woman,
members of her family called a tribal council to determine proper punishment.

That punishment was for the four men to gang rape the man's sister. The rape
occurred June 22 in Meerawala, a small town in Punjab province in central
Pakistan.

Bibi was dragged to a house, where she was raped.
She then was thrown out of the house and forced to
walk nearly naked to her parents' house as hundreds
of villagers stared at her.

The case sparked outrage across Pakistan.

The verdict was announced shortly after midnight. The woman's lawyer said her
client -- who lives with her parents -- had not been told of the verdict, because of
the late hour.

The men have seven days to appeal the verdict.

Earlier, Bibi appealed to the government for a safer place to live, saying she has
been threatened with revenge if the men were convicted.

Bibi told Reuters news agency that relatives of the defendants had threatened to kill
members of her family if the 14 were convicted.

"We are receiving death threats," Bibi told Reuters from her home in Meerawala.

The four convicted of rape come from the wealthy Mastoi clan.

"They have told us that if their four people are sentenced to death, they would kill
eight of our men," Bibi said.

"Not only my family, but those who supported us are being threatened with dire
consequences."

Shockwaves

Police protection has been provided for the
family but has done little to ease fears of
revenge.

When the 10 village elders ordered the
rape, it sent shockwaves across the country
and made headlines around the world
casting the spotlight on Pakistan's police
and judicial system.

In July, the supreme court in Islamabad
issued a stinging rebuke of local police
accusing them of negligence for failing to
even register a case until more than a week
after the rape took place.

As a result of perceived security threats, the 23-day trial was held behind closed
doors at the special anti-terrorism court.

Extra security forces were deployed in the town ahead of the expected verdict with
an increased police presence in Meerwala.

Family honor

Prior to the rape, Bibi says she turned to
the village's tribal council after her brother
was kidnapped by a family from the Mastoi
clan and accused of raping one of its
members.

The brother, Abdul Shakoor, was
reportedly sodomized by Mastoi men as
punishment.

However, the council's elders ruled that in
order to save the honor of the Mastoi
family, Shakoor would have to marry the
woman with whom he was linked.

Furthermore the council ruled Bibi was to be given away in marriage to a Mastoi
man.

The prosecution charges that when Bibi rejected that decision she was gang-raped
by four Mastoi men.

The woman's father said he was forced to witness the rape, although he begged
continually for the attackers to stop.

A defense lawyer for one of the accused argued during the trial that the rape charge
against his client was invalid because Bibi was technically married to him at the
time.

CNN Islamabad Bureau Chief Ash-Har Quraishi contributed to this story

I saw this story on TV tonight. Two people were raped, but they only spoke of the woman's experience in any great detail.
------------- RJD