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PAKISTANI GANG-RAPE CASE REOPENED: Supreme Court orders re-arrest
of 13 original suspects
By John Lancaster, Washington Post, June 29, 2005
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's Supreme Court agreed yesterday
to reopen an inquiry into the high-profile case of Mukhtar Mai, an unlettered
laborer's daughter from southern Punjab Province who allegedly was gang-raped
on the orders of a tribal council in 2002.
The court's decision overturned a judgment by the Lahore High Court,
issued in March, that threw out the convictions of five of the men accused
of involvement in the rape and commuted the death sentence of a sixth.
The Supreme Court also ordered the re-arrest of 13 of the original suspects
in the case. The high court's decision, following two days of hearings,
was a victory for Mai, 32, whose case has prompted an outpouring of international
sympathy and also become a focal point for concern about violence against
women in Pakistan.
The court will now review the evidence and make its own determination
as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, a process that is likely
to take months.
''I am happy, and I hope those who humiliated me will be punished,"
Mai told reporters after emerging from the Supreme Court following yesterday's
ruling.
Pakistan has been under intense international pressure to punish those
involved in the alleged rape and recently came under renewed criticism
when General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, barred Mai from traveling
to the United States on grounds that she might project a ''bad image"
of Pakistan. The ban was lifted after protests from the Bush administration
and other governments.
The court began hearing arguments Monday on Mai's appeal to reopen the
case. In March, a lower court overturned the convictions of five of the
six men charged in connection with the rape on the basis of insufficient
evidence. The men had been sentenced to death. The sixth man charged had
his death sentence converted to life in prison.
In an episode that has focused concerns about violence against women
in Pakistan, Mai was attacked in Meerwala, her village in southern Punjab
Province. The council allegedly ordered the rape to settle a score with
Mai's brother, 13, who had been accused of an improper relationship with
the sister of one of those accused.
While Pakistan lifted the travel ban following protests from the Bush
administration and other governments, Mai and her supporters charge that
the government has continued to interfere with her freedom of speech and
movement in the guise of ensuring her safety.
Musharraf confirmed this month that he had barred Mai from traveling
to the United States at the invitation of human-rights organizers. During
a visit to New Zealand, he described the organizers as ''Westernized fringe
elements" who wanted her to ''bad-mouth Pakistan," according
to the Associated Press.
Mai said last week that she had been told the ban had been lifted. But
before her trip from Punjab for Islamabad on Sunday, Mai complained that
her movements were still restricted by the heavy security that surrounds
her everywhere she goes.
Nilofar Bakhtiar, a government adviser on women's issues, denied any
effort to silence Mai. Bakhtiar noted that Musharraf had directed government
funding to Mai's schools and for electricity and water projects in Meerwala.
''We are all together," she said, citing the presence of Attorney
General Makhdoom Ali Khan on Mai's legal team. ''For us, it is a test
case also."
Bakhtiar said Musharraf had ordered the travel ban ''because he received
some information from Pakistanis living abroad and some other agencies
that this trip should not take place."
Asked to describe the information, Bakhtiar replied, ''There were some
reasons. He's the head of the country. He should know."
On Monday afternoon, a reporter who attempted to visit Mai at a government
women's shelter in Islamabad where she is staying was turned away by plainclothes
police officers armed with assault rifles. The police refused to deliver
a message to her. Reached later on her cell phone, Mai said she had been
ordered by her attorney not to speak publicly until the Supreme Court
concluded its current round of hearings.
Bakhtiar said reports that the government is restricting Mai's freedom
were ''absolutely untrue," adding, ''She has been talking to the
whole world, for God's sake."
In overturning the convictions, the Lahore High Court cited Mai's failure
to report the rape for seven days and what it described as unreliable
medical evidence. Human-rights advocates said Mai's reluctance to report
the crime was hardly surprising in light of the stigma rape has in this
conservative Islamic society. They also noted threats against her.
The five men who had their convictions overturned were released after
the March decision and returned to Meerwala.
Mai's supporters raised concerns about her safety, and she has been under
a 24-hour police guard. The men had already been re-arrested on orders
of the provincial government.
© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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