ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan’s highest Islamic court on Friday reinstated the convictions of five men sentenced to death for raping a woman on orders from a village council, following a firestorm of criticism after a lower tribunal ordered the suspects freed.
The decision by the Federal Shariat Court was yet another twist in the case of Mukhtar Mai, a 33-year-old woman who said she was raped in 2002 after elders in her village ordered the attack as punishment for her brother’s alleged illicit affair with a woman from another family.
“We welcome the decision, and we know our case is strong,” said Ramzan Khalid Joya, Mai’s lawyer. An attorney for the men, Mohammed Yaqub, said he had not had time to study the decision and would have no comment.
Six men, including village elder Faiz Mastoi, were sentenced to death in 2002, but on March 3 the sentences of five of them were overturned. The sixth man had his death sentence reduced to life in prison.
Human rights groups in Pakistan and around the world denounced the ruling, and thousands of Pakistani women rallied in Multan in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province earlier this week demanding justice and protection for Mai, who said she fears the men would seek revenge if released.
The Canadian High Commissioner on Tuesday visited Mai in Meerwala, a village about 350 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad, to pledge money for a school she runs.
In its decision Friday, the Federal Shariat Court ruled on technical grounds that the Multan tribunal had no powers to hear the case. It said it alone had the power to rule on appeals in rape cases.
The Shariat Court works separately from the normal legal system but has the power to overturn decisions involving Islamic law, such as in instances of rape, adultery and some cases of murder.
The court indicated it would hear the men’s appeal, but did not say when. All six men remain in jail. Once the Federal Shariat Court rules, a final appeal from either side could only be heard by a special Shariat Branch of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, the highest court in the nation.
Mai denies that her 13-year-old brother ever had illicit relations with the woman and says the village council’s decision to order her rape was made to cover up a sexual assault on the boy by men from the Mastoi clan, which enjoys local power.
Violence against women is common in deeply conservative Pakistan, particularly in rural areas where the government has little control. Hundreds of women are killed or brutally disfigured — often at the hands of their fathers, brothers or husbands — in so-called “honor” attacks.
The government promised to crack down on such attacks following Mai’s rape, pushing through tougher sentencing laws, but women’s rights activists say little has changed for most women.
