Opened up the GDN today to this horrible and disgusting story.http://gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=244784&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31349 Im wondering if that defense attorney, Fatima alHawaj, would be willing to subject herself to a gang rape and come out of it with the philosophy..."it was all a bit of harmless fun"? And I wonder if she would have said that if the victim had been a fellow Bahraini and not just a low class Filipino that are usually classed as "sexually available" to the Arabs they work for and among?
I also took note of the fact that the "youths" in question were 19, 20, 21...Im curious as to why MEN of this age are always described as youths in the paper here whenever they commit such heinous crimes? When exactly are boys viewed as men...whats the magic age marker for these people? And are we supposed to feel a certain degree of "aw shucks" for them because of their "youthful" age and apparent inability to control thenselves in their quest for some "harmless fun"?
Final note...with women defending men like this...women lawyers at that...with the phrase "harmless fun" the perpetuation of the belief that "boys will be boys" will never be cast aside and the action they undertook viewed exactly for what it is...a crime against a woman that has no doubt changed her life and will never be forgotten...but I dare say...if she hadnt been able to identify those 3 "boys" they would have tossed the memory of their night of harmless fun behind them and gotten a good nights sleep in the process.
Bahrain should be ashamed of itself the way sexual crimes are handled...and if I were that Filipino I would sue the ass off of one Fatima alHawaj who reduced my rape, humiliation, and lifelong memory of abuse at the hands of some locals and by the govt itself into merely an evening of "harmless fun".
15 comments:
I totally agree with you. It's so disgusting that an amount of money can persuade her to defend these men. I hope for her sake they really are innocent!
I mean can my words really express the sickening outrage I feel?? Probably not.. I mean.. what the hell is wrong with that woman? What type of flippen defense is that?? fun?? fun???
19-21 are not YOUNG BOYS they may have the maturity level of one and a mental consciousness of a slug but that does not make them young boys. And even if they were how does that excuse rape?
I'm not surprised the victim didn't show up. If a lawyer can stand there in all seriousness and claim 'harmless fun' as a defence to rape imagine how this woman has been treated over all in the system.
I'm very ashamed of the fact that they are locals, and I'm very ashamed of calling rape harmless fun, this is the result of not educating our people to make them tell what is right and what is wrong.
That foreign woman has my sympathy and compassion with her case because rape is not an easy matter that should be handled lightly, I wish these boys at least 5-7 years behind bars if the case is rape.
Turns out I actually met this lady while at the court building yest....Im thankful I didnt shake her hand or even give her much notice...if I had known ahead of time who she was I would seriously have given her an ear full...how could she?
This is awful! I can't believe that a woman - a Muslim woman is protecting criminals like this. I am so disgusted I have no words to describe how I feel.
Defence lawyers are required to come up with something no matter the crime, but this one is sorely lacking in imagination/ talent/ competence. They are technically minors (below the age of 21 at the time of the offense) but certainly not below the age of moral understanding of their crimes (abduction, rape, abandonment), and she undermined her own case by trying to pass this off as a prank, fun or joyriding. Clearing the charges would seem to be a stretch given that she admitted their guilt in defending them by asking for mitigating circumstances, even while they plead non-guilty. Such mitigating circumstances usually apply to sentencing.
flymenian--you are very sensitive to the circumstances. Since they are minors they may get as low a sentence as you describe. Otherwise it seems the punishment in Bahrain for rape is life imprisonment, and for rape of a woman under 16 capital punishment or life imprisonment.
http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaBahrain.asp
Suroor...I hear ya!!
Chiara...are you sure about that punishment for rape? The papers have been full of rapists getting a meager 3 years...most often reduced to 1...even child molesters arent treated too harshly by the system here. Ive posted on this frequently...its like the Sharia court cant be bothered with these sorts of criminals. It may say that is the punishment on paper...but its definitely not put into practice.
Coolred--that is according to the Interpol summary on child sexual abuse in Bahrain as I linked (or tried to). It may refer to maximum sentences as opposed to usual sentences, and seems to apply to adult offenders rather than minors who probably have lower maximum sentences.
(And here I thought you had agreed to settle out of court to spare your ex capital punishment :) )
Chiara...there doesnt seem to be much difference in sentencing when it comes to age...everyone gets off lightly.
"spare your ex capital punishment..."
Please...if they offered for me to mete it out myself I would have been grabbing the damn thing with two hands...no lie. Actually I didnt push in the beginning because of what was already happening with my girls...and would no doubt only get worse...Im very sorry I didnt now...but hindsight is a pain in the ass and heart...yes?
As Salaamu Alaikum Dear Coolred:
Ya Rabi ... it is disgusting :(
Coolred-- LOL. Actually this is most likely one of those "don't kill the father in the best interest of the children" scenarios since the abuse could be stopped by less drastic (though tempting) measures.
And yes hindsight can be both a cardiac as well as an anal pain, but also false (ocular distortion)! :)
aaahhhhhh....
i dont know how anyone could defend that
It's disgusting! I can understand that a laywer usually has not much choice in whom they are defending but that doesn't mean you'd have to do it in such a disgusting callous way.
I don't see the point anyway: three grownup men rape a woman.
That would be stoning wouldn't it?
i mean for the men, not the woman. In some Islamic countries they can be rather confused about that.
Bah.
I was having a nice day...
I'm a little late commenting on this article, but I don't think anyone can ever be too late, until our time is up.
Attorneys/lawyers are a special breed, in not a good way. I think more than a few of them are going to end up in the Hell Fire. They sell their souls for a miserable gain. They have to lie all the time. And, no way are they in pursuit of justice. Attorney/lawyers are in pursuit of prestige, recognition and wealth. They get paid to do their jobs (defend "people" that commit henious crimes.) To think of the punishment that awaits them (attorneys/lawyers)...
Ana...your right...it takes a certain type of person to become a lawyer that defends anything and everything that presents itself to him or her. I do believe Dante described a special place in Hell for just such people...one can only hope.
This lawyer has actually been in the papers a few times of late with similar cases under her belt. You start as you mean to go on as they say...God help her.
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