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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Removing the stain
The People's Assembly's decision this week to repeal clause 291 of the penal code, which allowed rapists to escape punishment if they marry their victims, reflected the will of the majority of Egyptians and restored calm and security to many homes. That clause, dating back to 1937, has allowed many criminals to enjoy freedom while their victims must suffer the unspeakable fate of sharing their lives with their attackers -- a form of physical and psychological torture which will scar them even further.Egyptian legislators, clearly, have been keen to deter any acts of violence against women, since the law sentences a convicted kidnapper to life imprisonment. If the kidnapping is accompanied by rape, the sentence is capital punishment. On the other hand, such deterrents were rendered virtually null and void by clause 291. Human rights groups and feminists, therefore, were perfectly right to wonder how the same legal system which stipulates harsh punishment for rapists and kidnappers could allow such a gaping loophole to exist for over 60 years, damaging untold lives and indirectly encouraging criminals to commit rape then take advantage of their victims' fear of social disgrace.
The problem is not limited to Cairo alone, of course. In rural areas, often more conservative than the capital, young, uneducated women are under even more pressure from their families to "cover up the scandal" -- as if they were at fault.
Maintaining clause 291 would also have meant that, in Egypt, criminals were being rewarded instead of being justly punished. The clause implied that society as a whole believed women should be held partly responsible for an act of violence against them. Ironically, those who argue that rape victims are somehow to blame would be the first to seek to take justice into their own hands if a daughter, sister or wife were subjected to the crime.
The fact that the government has responded positively to nearly five years of lobbying by feminists and human rights activists, and has taken the initiative in putting the proposal to abolish clause 291 before the People's Assembly, is an indication that Egypt is witnessing the development of rational and influential civil society organisations.
