Laws that allow rapists to marry their victims come from colonialism, not Islam | The Independent
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/rape-conviction-laws-marry-rapist-jordan-egypt-morocco-tunisia-came-f
Article 308 is a remnant of the Ottoman rule, but its origin is even more distant – historically and geographically – as the Ottomans had imported it from the French penal code. In countries that were under French colonial rule, such as Lebanon and Tunisia, laws like Article 308 are a direct hangover.
The roots of these laws lie in the cultural impact of centuries under colonial rule, where subjugation was ultimately secured by a true “gentlemen’s agreement”. While foreign powers took control of the state, in exchange they offered local men complete control of their homes.
The colonialists fed and legitimised the misogynist voices within the colonised, and so many of the barriers that women face in the region stem directly from this strategy of using patriarchy as a tool of oppression.
When seen from this perspective, it is less surprising to find that law surrounding rape that gave birth to all those we find in the Middle East and North Africa was only abolished in France as recently as 1994 – only five years before Egypt did away with it.
Suis un peu surpris par cette allusion à la situation légale en France en 1994 même s’il y a eu à cette une modification juridique, notamment sur la présomption de consentement ehntre époux, mais c’est tout de même assez différent...
