By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan- A Pakistani court has ordered the noses and ears of two men cut off, as punishment for doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them.  In September, the two brothers were found guilty of kidnapping 19-year-old Fazeelat Bibi, one of their cousins.  

The Sentence was passed on Monday under a rarely invoked Islamic law dating back to the 1980s.  The anti-terrorism court in the court in the eastern city of Lahore said it was applying Islamic law by ordering the punishment.  Similar sentences in the past have been revoked on appeal.  The court also ordered that the brothers spend life in prison and pay 700,000 rupees($8,300) in compensation to the victim, Punjab province chief prosecutor Chaudary Mohammad Jahangir said on Tuesday.

Ehtisham Qadir, prosecutor for the government said the punishment had been awarded in accordance with the Islamic principle of “an eye for an eye”  

Lahore prosecutor Chaudrhy Ali Ahmed said Sher Mohammad, one of the accused, was a cousin of the 19-year-old woman and wanted to marry her.  Sher Mohammad and Ammanat Ali, along with their cousin Mohammad Ali and two other men abducted Fazeelat Bibi on her way home from work at a brick kiln in the Raiwing area of Lahore, and strangled her with a wire.  Mr. Qadir told the BBC, “They put a noose around her neck, and then cut off her ears and nose.”  The crime was committed after her parents refused to give their daughter’s hand in marriage to Sher Mohammad.

They mutilated her body “to set an example”, prosecutor Jahangir said.

Mohammad Ali has also been arrested, while the other two men allegedly involved in the attack have not been charged.  The brothers were tried under anti-terror laws because the incident “created tyranny” in the district.  The high court must confirm the sentence before it is carried out, and a doctor must determine that they can survive the punishment.

Pakistani human rights groups have long campaigned for more to be done to stop attacks against women, which often includes facial disfigurement.  However, they also disagree with the type of punishment handed out in Lahore, correspondents say.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Pakistan Court Orders Ears and Noses To Be Cut Off – 22 December 2009

The Associated Press- Pakistani Court Orders 2 Men’s Noses, Ears Cut Off – 22 December 2009

CNNWorld- Pakistan Court Orders Men’s Ears, Noses Hacked Off – 22 December 2009