Reading this story on the Baptist Press deeply saddened me. I didn't intend to post another blog entry tonight but I felt compelled to share this. Please join me in praying for this family in their tragic loss.
Posted on Apr 15, 2011 | by Mark Kelly
BANGLADESH GIRL DIES AFTER RAPE, SHARIA LASHES -- A 14-year-old girl in Bangladesh was lashed 101 times after she was kidnapped, beaten and raped by an older cousin.
An imam in the local mosque handed down the sentence against Hena Akhter under Islam's Sharia law. The girl later died in a hospital, and the initial autopsy declared her death a suicide.
Hena was the youngest of Darbesh Khan's five children in the rural village of Shariatpur. Her father's nephew, Mahbub Khan, moved his family to Hena's rural village and reportedly began stalking her, CNN reported March 29. When her father complained to the elders, the man was warned and fined, but after a few months he caught the girl outside at night and attacked her. When his wife heard the girl's screams, she dragged the child back to the couple's home and beat her as well.
The next day, village elders and the local imam concluded the girl and her attacker were guilty of an illicit relationship and sentenced her to 101 lashes, him to 201 lashes, CNN reported. The girl passed out after 70 lashes; the man managed to escape after his punishment had barely begun.
Public outrage over the autopsy caused authorities to exhume the girl's body and a second autopsy revealed she had died of internal bleeding and her body bore the marks of severe injuries, CNN reported. The doctors responsible for the first autopsy now face prosecution and police are investigating the death. Police were guarding her family, who feared reprisals for speaking out against the imam and village elders.
An imam in the local mosque handed down the sentence against Hena Akhter under Islam's Sharia law. The girl later died in a hospital, and the initial autopsy declared her death a suicide.
Hena was the youngest of Darbesh Khan's five children in the rural village of Shariatpur. Her father's nephew, Mahbub Khan, moved his family to Hena's rural village and reportedly began stalking her, CNN reported March 29. When her father complained to the elders, the man was warned and fined, but after a few months he caught the girl outside at night and attacked her. When his wife heard the girl's screams, she dragged the child back to the couple's home and beat her as well.
The next day, village elders and the local imam concluded the girl and her attacker were guilty of an illicit relationship and sentenced her to 101 lashes, him to 201 lashes, CNN reported. The girl passed out after 70 lashes; the man managed to escape after his punishment had barely begun.
Public outrage over the autopsy caused authorities to exhume the girl's body and a second autopsy revealed she had died of internal bleeding and her body bore the marks of severe injuries, CNN reported. The doctors responsible for the first autopsy now face prosecution and police are investigating the death. Police were guarding her family, who feared reprisals for speaking out against the imam and village elders.
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=35072
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