Protest in Lahore (Pakistan) in reaction to gang rape, September 17, 2020 -

Rana Sajid Hussain / Pacific Press / Shutterstock / SIPA

A Pakistani court sentenced two men to death on Saturday for the gang rape of a Franco-Pakistani woman, a case that sparked protests in several cities in the conservative country and prompted the government to toughen legislation.

"They were both sentenced to death," Chaudhry Qasim Arain, one of the two men's lawyers, told AFP.

They appealed.

A new law

The victim was raped last September in front of her children, when her car ran out of gasoline by the roadside near Lahore, in eastern Pakistan.

Demonstrations had taken place to demand better protection of women and to denounce the words of a police officer who seemed to hold the victim responsible for her fate.

The Pakistani government had responded with a new law which included the chemical castration of rapists, a measure which Prime Minister Imran Khan said he supported.

Religious sexism

Much of Pakistan, a conservative Muslim country, lives under a patriarchal code of "honor" that systematizes the oppression of women by preventing them, for example, from choosing their husbands or working outside their homes.

And the remarks made by a senior police officer after the rape had caused an uproar.

He seemed to blame the victim for his ordeal for driving at night without a man present.

No one in Pakistan "would allow their daughters and sisters to travel alone so late," Umar Sheikh, the police chief of Lahore, told reporters.

“Her family is from France, her husband lives in France.

She did this because she is based on France.

She believed that our society was as safe as in France, ”he added.

Demonstrations had taken place in several cities to denounce the words of the police officer who then apologized.

Each year, around a thousand Pakistani women are murdered in honor killings.

The victim of honor killings, usually a woman, is killed by a loved one for shaming her family.

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