Blogging community come to the aid of Mukhtaran Bibi

June 29th, 2005

From the Guardian

Final act of rape case puts Pakistan on trial

Pakistan’s supreme court will today begin to consider whether to reimpose the death sentence on six men accused of gang raping a woman whose battle for justice has become an embarrassment to President Pervez Musharraf

The story is that in 2002, Muhktaran Bibi was sentenced to be gang raped in punishment for a sexual crime allegedly committed by her brother.

Muhktaran stood up to to her accusers and won.

But in March of this year the success turned sour. An appeal court overturned the original conviction, citing flaws in the prosecution case. Then the government tried to gag her.

she was not allowed to leave the country when she had been invited to the US to talk at a human rights conference. A gagging order was placed on her and she was taken to Islamabad.

President Musharaaf became involved and the story was picked up New York Times Coloumnist, Nicholas Kristoff.

The Guardian says,

He was joined by over 100 internet blogs, some of which directed protesters to a demonstration at the Pakistani consulate in New York.
The sense of outrage reached the White House. Usually, Bush administration officials turn a blind eye to abuses by Islamabad, a key ally in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. This time the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, rang the Pakistani foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, to complain. The travel ban was lifted.

We hope that Muhktaran Bibi survives her ordeal, and it goes to show, once again, the power of the blogosphere in applying pressure on those it believes have transgressed.

Perhaps Nicholas Kristoff would have created that pressure himself, The New York Times is no light weight, but I beleive that is not the case. he lit the fuse and people power did the rest.

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