In what's being hailed by human rights groups as a landmark court case, an Afghan mullah was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping a young girl in his mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to Middle Eastern news reports on Monday. While the defenders of the Muslim cleric attempted to persuade the court that the cleric's sex with the 11-year-old girl was consensual, the judge was not sympathetic to the religious leader, Mullah Mohammad Amin.
Courtesy of Police Times Magazine/AFPCC
The trial and conviction is seen as a victory for Muslim women's rights, and the influence of Americans and Europeans serving in various capacities in the war-torn country is credited by many with helping in the fight for women’s protection in Afghanistan, a country that notoriously allows rape of children, both girls and boys, especially by members of Islamist groups such as the Taliban.
The human rights group Women for Afghan Women (WAW) is credited with becoming involved in the rape case when they learned about the victim having to be given shelter in order to protect her from family members who were plotting an “honor killing.” But once the trial ended, WAW officials claim they were successful returning to her family, who have promised to treat her respectfully. The family members also
showed her support by attending the trial of her rapist.
Amin’s lawyers had attempted to inject Shariah Law into the proceeding which would have made him guilty of adultery but not rape or sexual assault, Had the defense been successful the girl would have been punished. However, the judge in the case, Sulaiman Rasouli, had ruled that the medical evidence presented to the court disputed any of the defense claims including the cleric’s attempt at a Shariah Law defense.
Amin received a sentence consistent with the 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women law, which made rape a crime in Afghanistan for the first time in its long history. The group Women for Afghan Women, which is based in New York City, is credited with helping to draft the 2009 law that protects women. Ironically, the trial's guilty verdict came just two-weeks after the WAW held a walkathon in New York City.
Young girls are not the only victims of Muslim men: they prey on young boys, as well. According to an Examiner news story, in Kandahar, a city with a population of about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular -- often weekly -- pastime. Young boys dress up as females, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home.
"In a country that is considered overly repressive due to its adherence to the precepts contained in the Muslim religion's Koran, it's difficult for American service members and diplomats to understand the fact that a large portion of the Afghan male population are pedophiles (adults who enjoy sexual contact with prepubescent children) or pederasts (adults who enjoy sexual relations with pubescent or post-pubescent children)" the Examiner story states.