Pakistani Islamists protest rape law reform

More than 5,000 supporters of a radical Islamist coalition rallied in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad today to protest over recent changes in a disputed Muslim rape law.

Chanting slogans against the government of President General Pervez Musharraf, the protesters marched on a main road in Islamabad, urging him to step down for supporting and approving the law which they claim negated Islam.

“The National Assembly illegally approved it,” hard-line politician Mian Aslam told the rally.

The legislation – known as the Protection of Women Bill – was approved by the parliament on December 1 and signed by Musharraf.

The coalition, called Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Forum, has held similar rallies across the country after the approval of the bill, claiming the legislation will spread obscenity.

The government has dismissed the criticism, saying the changes in the 27-year-old rape law would make it easier to prosecute sexual assault cases.

Under the new law, judges can choose whether a rape case should be tried in a criminal court or under the old Islamic law, known as the Hudood Ordinance.

It also dropped the death penalty for sex outside marriage. The offence would now be punishable with five years in prison or a fine of about €125.

Human rights activists had campaigned against the old rape law after the 2002 gang-rape of a woman who was assaulted after a tribal council in her eastern Punjab village ordered her raped as punishment for her 13-year-old brother’s alleged affair with a woman of a higher caste.