Article condoning marriage of rapist to his victim abolished

In follow up to its previous discussions regarding the Penal Code related to violation of 'women's honor',  the Parliamentary Justice and Administration Committee abolished yesterday Article 522 of the Penal Code which condones the marriage of the rapist to his victim, and totally eradicating the exemption part regardless of the circumstances, committee rapporteur, MP Nawar Saheli told As Safir. For his part, the president of said committee, Robert Ghanem, announced that deputies have continued yesterday the discussions, focusing on the last paragraph of Article 505 which states that he who has sexual penetration with a minor 15 years of age and is less than 18 is punished with 2 months up to 2 years in prison. They agreed to strengthen the penalties against he who has sexual penetration with a minor under 15 years regardless of the victim’s consent or disapproval. Al Hayat newspaper described the above decision that will be submitted for enactment to the Parliament’s General Assembly at the first legislative session as a positive step. Such step, Al Hayat added, requires further measures, such as awareness-raising public campaigns especially that the forced marriage of an underage girl from her rapist is still common in Lebanon. Many people, the paper noted, view marriage in such cases as necessary to cover the scandal as well as prevent potential honor crimes within families. 

(Al Diyar, As Safir, Al Hayat, An Nahar, December 15, 2016)

 

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