Syrian Network for Human Rights documented 185 victims, Sunday 21/7/2013 all across Syria. Among the victims: 11 children, 9 women, 6 tortured to death one of them is child, and 31 FSA.
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Another massacre in the Al-Bayda village of Baniyas where 13 victims from the same family (Fatouh family) were burned to death in their home while they were fasting. Among the victims: 6 children and 4 women.
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Massacre in the Areha of Idlib countryside, where 14 victims were killed by shelling on the main market by mortar and artillery, including 2 children and 2 women.
Kathryn Maureen Ryan Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Marte Deborah Dalelv, an interior designer from Norway who was given a 16 months in prison sentence after she reported to Dubai police that she was raped while in Dubai on business last March was granted a pardon by the United Arab Emirates’ prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The 24-year-old had been charged with the crimes of having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol, and perjury after she reported the attack. Her alleged attacker, who received a 13 months sentence, was also pardoned.
After receiving a longer sentence than her rapist, 24-year old rape victim is ‘pardoned’ in Dubai. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)
The pardon follows cries of outrage from the international community for the charges to be dropped. Her sentence has been condemned by the Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide who said that the court’s ruling “flies in the face of our notion of justice” and was “highly problematic from a human rights perspective.” He also criticized Dubai’s legal system, which allows the victims of rapes and other violent assaults to be punished for being victimized, saying, “[i]t seems very strange that a person who reports rape is sentenced for acts which in our part of the world is not even a crime.”
The 24-year old reported the incident to police, believing she would find help. Immediately following the alleged incident, Dalelv fled the scene and asked the hotel staff at the lobby desk to contact the police. Before contacting the police, the staff asked her if she was sure she wanted to involve the police in the situation. Dalelv reportedly said, “[o]f course I want to call the police,” in dealing with the incident because that was “the natural reaction” where she is from.
While the UAI attracts large numbers of western expatriates and tourists each year because of its modern cities and lifestyle, the state maintains little-publicised conservative laws regarding sexual activity and alcohol consumption. As a result, western women, like Dalelv, encounter legal trouble when reporting their rapes to police, believing they will be treated victims instead of being treated as criminals.
In January 2010, a British woman reported that she had been raped by an employee at a Dubai hotel was charged with public intoxication and having extramarital sexual intercourse. In December 2012, a British woman who reported being gang raped by three men in Dubai was found guilty of unlicensed alcohol consumption and received a fine. And in 2008, an Australian woman was convicted of having sex outside of marriage and of drinking alcohol, receiving an 11 month sentence, after she reported to police that she had been drugged and gang-raped. Emirati women fear going to police to report sexual violence for the same reasons. Three years ago, an 18-year-old Emirati woman who reported that she had been gang-raped by six men including a police officer was sentenced to a year in prison.
Human rights groups have criticized the Gulf State’s history for criminalizing the victims of rape; Human Rights Watch has called Dubai’s record on handling rape cases, which has led to a fear of reporting rape, “shameful.”
By Kevin M. Mathewson Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
MADHYA PRADESH, India — A court in India has sentenced six men to life in prison as a result of the gang rape of a Swiss tourist on vacation in March of this year.
Indian police escort the gang-rape suspects to court in Datia, in central Madhya Pradesh state, on March 18, 2013.
The 39 year old woman and her husband were attacked while camping in central Madhya Pradesh state. The husband was tied up as his wife was assaulted. The couple also alleged that the men had stolen their laptop, mobile phone, cameras and other articles after the assault. As such, in addition to life in prison, each of the six men was fined 20,000 rupees (337 dollars).
While all six were sentenced on Saturday, only four of the men were charged with rape. The remaining two were charged with robbery and assault after the victim testified they were “only present at the crime scene.”
Rajendra Tiwari, a public prosecutor, said the case presented a challenge as the victim could not recognize the accused because the attack took place at night.
“The prosecution proved its case using DNA tests as well as recovery of looted articles. All the accused have been convicted and we are satisfied with the judgment.” said Tiwari.
The men, aged between 22 and 30, were all from a village a short distance from the scene of the attack.
The rape of the Swiss woman came three months after the fatal gang rape of a 23 year old student on a bus in Delhi. The student suffered massive internal injuries as a result of the rape and died weeks later. Her attack brought protest about the treatment of women in India.
Weeks of demonstrations over the Delhi rape prompted India’s parliament to toughen sex offense laws. Subsequently, days after the Swiss tourist was assaulted, changes to the laws were passed, containing stricter punishment for rapists, including the death penalty.
In India one woman is raped every 20 minutes according to the National Crime Records Bureau. However, the crime is vastly under reported due to the social stigma associated with such attacks.
The first verdict in the Delhi case is expected on July 25.
