The Pakistani law that jailed rape survivors

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2021

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Under legislation known as the Hudood Ordinances introduced in 1979, a nearly blind teenage girl who'd been raped by two men and then became pregnant, was jailed herself for having sex outside marriage. In 1983 Safia Bibi was sentenced to three years imprisonment, 15 lashes and a fine. There was public outrage and anger from Pakistani women against the verdict and draconian punishment. Farhana Haider has been speaking to leading Pakistani lawyer and human rights advocate, Hina Jilani, who helped overturn the verdict.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:40.3	I'm Frahana Hiver and today I'm taking you back to the 1980s when the women's
0:45.9	rights movement in Pakistan was galvanized by a particularly horrific rape
0:50.9	case. I've been talking to a leading female lawyer who fought to
0:57.9	overturn the conviction of Safia BB, a nearly blind teenage girl who was raped by two men but then jailed herself for
1:06.4	having sex outside marriage. In his televised speech, General Zia announced that Pakistan would be Islamized.
1:20.8	In five new ordinances the traditional Islamic punishments have been adopted, stoning to death in public, amputation of hands and whipping.
1:31.0	In July 1977, General Zia Ulhoc led a military takeover of Pakistan.
1:37.0	The new regime quickly adopted a campaign of Islamization and in 1979 introduced the so-called
1:44.0	Houdud ordinances, five criminal laws, a number of which
1:48.0	discriminated against women in multiple ways.
1:51.0	Zia's Pakistan allows no civil freedom, no politics, no free press, no democracy, no dissent.
1:58.0	Justice is Islamic, speedy and harsh.
2:02.0	There's amputation, stoney to death for adultery, restricted rights for women.
2:07.0	Pakistan's military strongman, General Zaire, believes such punishments are an effective deterrent.
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