Pakistani Rape Victim gets Honour in US
NEW YORK - A Pakistani activist who was gang-raped at the orders of a tribal council was honored by Glamour Magazine as Woman of the Year for her fight against oppression in her homeland. Mukhtar Mai braved social stigma by going public with her 2002 assault, and used the international attention she attracted to set up a girls school in her rural community.
This award is a victory for poor women; it's a victory for all women," Mai said at the Wednesday night Lincoln Center ceremony after actress Brooke Shields presented her award.
She said her motto is: "End oppression with education." Mia, 36, said she plans to donate $5,000 of her $20,000 prize to victims of the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed more than 70,000 people in Pakistan. The rest of the money will help her establish schools and a women's crisis center.
Mai already has set up a school for girls. She said she considers schooling equally important for boys, because they must learn that under Islam, and under the law, women have the same rights to be left alone as they do.
Mai was ordered raped in 2002 by a council of elders in Meerwala*, her home village in eastern Punjab province, as punishment for her 13-year-old brother's alleged affair with a woman from a higher caste. Mai and her family say the boy had been sexually assaulted by members of the woman's family.
In Pakistan, using rape to restore a family's honor is commonplace. The victim often kills herself in shame. But Mai's outcry drew international attention and landed her alleged attackers in the national courts of Pakistan. A trial court in 2002 sentenced six men to death and acquitted eight others in Mai's rape. In March, the High Court in Punjab province acquitted five of the men and reduced the death sentence of the sixth to life in prison.
After an emotional appeal by Mai, the acquittals were overturned in June and the 13 men who had been released were arrested again. They remain in jail while Pakistan's Supreme Court considers the case.
This award is a victory for poor women; it's a victory for all women," Mai said at the Wednesday night Lincoln Center ceremony after actress Brooke Shields presented her award.
She said her motto is: "End oppression with education." Mia, 36, said she plans to donate $5,000 of her $20,000 prize to victims of the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed more than 70,000 people in Pakistan. The rest of the money will help her establish schools and a women's crisis center.
Mai already has set up a school for girls. She said she considers schooling equally important for boys, because they must learn that under Islam, and under the law, women have the same rights to be left alone as they do.
Mai was ordered raped in 2002 by a council of elders in Meerwala*, her home village in eastern Punjab province, as punishment for her 13-year-old brother's alleged affair with a woman from a higher caste. Mai and her family say the boy had been sexually assaulted by members of the woman's family.
In Pakistan, using rape to restore a family's honor is commonplace. The victim often kills herself in shame. But Mai's outcry drew international attention and landed her alleged attackers in the national courts of Pakistan. A trial court in 2002 sentenced six men to death and acquitted eight others in Mai's rape. In March, the High Court in Punjab province acquitted five of the men and reduced the death sentence of the sixth to life in prison.
After an emotional appeal by Mai, the acquittals were overturned in June and the 13 men who had been released were arrested again. They remain in jail while Pakistan's Supreme Court considers the case.
posted by Nadia at 6:33 PM
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