Bob CollinsLong before 9/11, human rights groups tried to get Americans to pay attention to the human rights abuses suffered by women in Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban. Then the war started, the Taliban was ousted from power, over 1,800 U.S. soldiers died, and it’s still a struggle to get any attention paid to the human rights abuses suffered by women in Afghanistan.
But, today, one story is getting some attention.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pardoned a woman who was jailed for adultery after she was raped by a family member.
All she has to do is marry the rapist.
The BBC reports…
Gulnaz’s lawyer told the BBC she hoped the government would allow Gulnaz the freedom to choose who to marry.
“In my conversations with Gulnaz she told me that if she had the free choice she would not marry the man who raped her,” said Kimberley Motley.
The case has drawn international attention to the plight of many Afghan women 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban.
Earlier this month, Gulnaz told the BBC that after she was raped she was charged with adultery.
“At first my sentence was two years,” she said. “When I appealed it became 12 years. I didn’t do anything. Why should I be sentenced for so long?”
