Bangladesh mulls death penalty for rapists as protests rage
DHAKA – As protests flare across Bangladesh over a series of rapes and sexual assaults, its government says it is considering the death penalty for the offenders. Law Minister Anisul Huq told Al Jazeera that his ministry is set to place a proposal before the cabinet on Monday to make urgent amendments to the laws dealing with sexual assault.
“We are thinking of capital punishment instead of life imprisonment… This measure will be taken as per the direction of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” said Huq. In the past week, Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country of 170 million people, has seen unprecedented protests and rallies across the capital Dhaka and other cities as angry demonstrators demand justice and stricter punishments in rape cases. Placards bearing messages such as “Hang the rapists” and “No mercy to rapists” were seen as tens of thousands of students and women marched this week. One of those students, Saima Ajmeri, braved the scorching sun, intermittent rain, and the fear of COVID-19 infection as she hit the streets for five days straight. “I was always shy and stayed away from protest rallies and processions as I am an introvert. But now I feel I can no longer stay silent. These rapes just can’t go on and the rapists can’t go scot-free. Something has to change,” the 21-year-old university student told Al Jazeera. Protests led mainly by women erupted after a video emerged this month showing several men stripping and attacking a woman in the southern district of Noakhali. In her statement, the woman said she was first raped by one of the accused at gunpoint last year. He assaulted her at gunpoint several times over the year, threatening her with gang rape if she resisted.
She was gang-raped by the man and a number of his associates on September 2, and a video of the assault was made to blackmail her for money and to agree to sexual encounters with the group. She refused, and the men released the video on social media. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the case. Days before the Noakhali video went viral, anger had already been brewing after several members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League – the student wing of the governing party – were arrested and charged with gang-raping a woman in the northern town of Sylhet last month. (Al Jazeera)