Lebanon repeals law allowing for rape marriage
Print Edition
Lebanon yesterday joined other Arab nations in abolishing a law that lets rapists escape punishment if they marry their victims in a move applauded by women’s rights campaigners.
On the heels of Jordan scrapping its law earlier this month, and Tunisia doing so last month, Lebanese lawmakers voted to do away with article 522 in the Lebanese penal code.
The article includes a provision that lets a rapist off the hook if he marries his victim, and its abolition follows a lengthy — and often graphic — campaign by activists.
“This is definitely a step that needs to be celebrated for all women in Lebanon,” Roula Masri of local rights group Abaad said by phone.
Abaad has campaigned against the country’s law for more than a year, posting billboards of women in bloodied and torn wedding gowns.
The caption reads: “A white dress does not cover the rape.”
In April, campaigners hung white wedding dresses from nooses on Beirut’s popular seafront.
“This is a very positive and long-overdue development for the protection of women’s rights in Lebanon,” Bassam Khawaja, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, said by phone.
“At the same time in Lebanon, there are several long overdue women’s rights developments that we still have to tackle. So parliament should ... immediately pass legislation to end marital rape and also child marriage, which is still legal in Lebanon,” said Khawaja.
Rights groups hope the momentum now flows to Arab countries with similar provisions such as Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Syria.
Some countries in the region have already closed similar loopholes. Egypt repealed its law in 1999, and Morocco overhauled its law in 2014.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
