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The ordinance is mostly criticized for equiparating the crime of zina (adultery) and zina bil-jabr (rape). As for the zina, a woman alleging rape is required to provide four adult male eye-witnesses. Actually, in many cases the failure to find such proof of the rape places the woman at risk of prosecution for zina.[4] [5] Moreover, to prove rape the female victim has to admit that sexual intercourse had taken place. If the alleged offender, however, is acquitted for want of further evidence the woman now faces charges for either adultery, if she is married, or for fornication, if she is not married. According to a report by the National Commission on Status of Women(NCSW) "an estimated 80% of women" in jail in 2003 were there as because "they had failed to prove rape charges and were consequently convicted of adultery."[6]
Stories of great personal suffering by women who claimed to have been raped appeared in the press in the years following the passing of the Hudood ordinances. The case of Safia Bibi is one of this: a blind girl victim of a rape who was prosecuted for the crime of zina because of her illeggittimate pregnancy, while the rapist was acquitted. The case appealed many protests from Pakistani activist and lawyer and from the international organizations. The appeal sentence of the Federal Shariat Court let claired the girl of the accusation of zina.[7]
Stories of great personal suffering by women who claimed to have been raped appeared in the press in the years following the passing of the Hudood ordinances. The case of Safia Bibi is one of this: a blind girl victim of a rape who was prosecuted for the crime of zina because of her illeggittimate pregnancy, while the rapist was acquitted. The case appealed many protests from Pakistani activist and lawyer and from the international organizations. The appeal sentence of the Federal Shariat Court let claired the girl of the accusation of zina.[7]
The evidence of guilt was there for all to see: a newborn baby in the arms of its mother, a village woman named Zafran Bibi. Her crime: she had been raped. Her sentence: death by stoning. Now Ms. Zafran Bibi, who is about 26, is in solitary confinement in a death-row cell.
Thumping a fat red statute book, the white-bearded judge who convicted her, Anwar Ali Khan, said he had simply followed the letter of the Koran-based law, known as hudood, that mandates punishments.
"The illegitimate child is not disowned by her and therefore is proof of zina," he said, referring to laws that forbid any sexual contact outside marriage. Furthermore, he said, in accusing her brother-in-law of raping her, Ms. Zafran had confessed to her crime. [8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudood_Ordinance
Thumping a fat red statute book, the white-bearded judge who convicted her, Anwar Ali Khan, said he had simply followed the letter of the Koran-based law, known as hudood, that mandates punishments.
"The illegitimate child is not disowned by her and therefore is proof of zina," he said, referring to laws that forbid any sexual contact outside marriage. Furthermore, he said, in accusing her brother-in-law of raping her, Ms. Zafran had confessed to her crime. [8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudood_Ordinance
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