Thread: Rape, culture and religion

Thursday, April 13, 2006 E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version

THINKING ALOUD: Rape, culture and religion — Razi Azmi

Dangerously deformed cultural beliefs combined with poor parenting have not just destroyed the Skaf and the “K” families’ dreams of a better future for their children, but also caused suffering to a number of teenage girls and their families. What is worse, in their attempts to save themselves from the consequences of their crimes, they besmirched the name of their culture, religion and country

It’s finally over for the four infamous “K brothers” from Pakistan as well as the two Skaf brothers from Lebanon. They will spend a very long time in Australian jails for the gang-rape of a number of teenage Australian girls.

Rape is among the most universal of crimes. Like other crimes, it transcends race, ethnicity, religion and culture. Because of social taboos, the stigma attached to victims and the humiliation of testifying and being cross-examined in court, most sexual assault cases remain personal or family secrets, especially in Muslim countries. Under sharia law, at any rate, it is next to impossible to obtain a conviction of rape. Therefore, in Muslim countries, rapes are best kept under wraps.

In Western countries, society is more open, and the law takes a tough line against cases of sexual assault. Yet, even in a country like Australia, only one in five reported cases of rape goes to court, and one in 10 results in a conviction.

Rape, by definition, is abhorrent, but some incidents of rape cause extreme revulsion in the community and transfix media attention. This is particularly true of gang rapes or pack rapes and, to a lesser extent, of serial rapes.

In Australia, two gang-rape cases in the recent past grabbed media headlines. One involved two brothers, Bilal and Mohammad Skaf, and their friends, all of Lebanese descent. The other concerned four “K brothers” of Pakistani origin.

In both cases, the media went into a kind of frenzy and the judges handed out heavy sentences. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, these were not just rapes, but gang rapes, which are virtually unknown in Western countries. Secondly, the sexual assaults acquired an ethnic tinge as the accused made references to culture and religion either at the time of committing the crimes or later in court.

Reporting on the rape cases involving the Skaf brothers, London’s Guardian wrote: “During the rapes teenage girls were threatened at gunpoint, beaten, insulted, forced to perform oral sex and raped by up to 14 boys at a time. In a particularly inflammatory twist, several of the victims were subjected to a barrage of racist taunts by their assailants, all of whom were from Lebanese backgrounds. Skaf has never shown any remorse for the crimes or pity for the victims, and smiled as he received the guilty verdicts. Members of his family have fallen back on the old saw that the women he attacked were willing partners in their assault.”

One victim was called an “Aussie pig” and told she would be raped “Leb-style”. Another was told “you deserve it because you’re an Australian”. During the trial the text messages of one of the offenders, Bilal Skaf, were disclosed as containing sentiments such as “When you are feeling down... bash a Christian or Catholic and lift up”.

These incidents in 2000 created great revulsion when first reported. The public uproar led to the passage of new legislation through the parliament of New South Wales (NSW), increasing the sentence for gang-rapists by creating a new category of crime known as “aggravated sexual assault in company”.

In the course of one of the trials, the defendants refused counsel claiming that all lawyers were against Muslims. This created the prospect of the defendants being able to cross-examine the witnesses themselves, a situation that was averted by further legislation. Nine men in total were jailed over the 2000 rapes and received a total of 240 years. The ring leader, Bilal, got 28 years, being eligible for parole after 22 years.

A couple of years later the so-called Ashfield rape cases involving four Pakistani brothers came to light. The names of the accused were not made public in order to conceal the identity of the youngest (since he was a minor at the time). Known as MSK, MAK, MRK and MMK, they are now aged between 18 and 26.

A number of teenage victims, one as young as 13, were raped at the brothers’ family home in Sydney over many months in 2002. They made videos of some of their victims.

For their defence, the brothers emphasised their Muslim identity, claiming they were the victims of a police conspiracy. Two of the brothers refused legal representation, accusing all lawyers of being biased against Muslims. They claimed media publicity was prejudicial. And they repeatedly sacked their barristers.

The Legal Aid Commission told the presiding judge that it was prepared to accommodate the accused with Pashto- and Urdu-speaking lawyers, but the brothers wanted experts in Muslim law from overseas, which the Commission declined to provide.

In court one brother called Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen a “slut”. The father, who gave evidence in the trial and said the rapes could not have happened because he had been home all night, bowed on his prayer mat.

Three of the brothers were convicted of aggravated sexual assault in company — a crime carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment — against two girls, aged 16 and 17, in July 2002. MSK was jailed for 28 years (with a non-parole period of 22 years), MAK for 19 years (14 years non-parole), MRK 8 years (five years non-parole) and MMK 22 years (13 years non-parole). Their friend and partner-in-crime, RS, who was from Nepal, hanged himself in jail before the sentencing.

In his appeal before the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal against the alleged severity of the sentences, the defence counsel argued for a lesser sentence partly because the accused was a “cultural time bomb” whose attacks were inevitable, as he had emigrated from a country with traditional views of women. MSK, he said, was affected by “cultural conditioning... in the context of intoxification”.

MSK pretended to be mentally ill, and jumped the dock and threw broken glass at the victims’ families. He later admitted to all the rapes at his sentencing hearing, but invented more excuses: he accused his victims of being “promiscuous” and his “strict cultural background”, even that “Satanic voices” made him do it.

His father, himself a physician, told the court he had diagnosed MSK with schizophrenia. “He told me... Satan come to him and tell him different things. He told me that sometimes even the green grass whisper to him.” The father, however, refused to place his hand on the Holy Quran when sworn in because he said he had not performed ablution.

The K brothers’ father had migrated from Charsadda in Pakistan to Australia after graduating as a doctor in the late 1960s. Having settled here and gained Australian citizenship, he returned to Pakistan to marry. Their first son, MSK, was born there in 1978. The doctor frequently travelled between the two countries, kept fathering children but left his wife and children (five sons, one daughter) to grow up in their native land.

By 2001, however, the doctor had moved most of the children to Sydney, while he spent a lot of time in Pakistan with his wife, who never came to Australia. MSK, who is married with a young son, had visited Australia eight times before he moved here, leaving his young wife and son in Pakistan.

Dangerously deformed cultural beliefs combined with poor parenting have not just destroyed the Skaf and the “K” families’ dreams of a better future for their children, but also caused suffering to a number of teenage girls and their families. What is worse, in their attempts to save themselves from the consequences of their crimes, they besmirched the name of their culture, religion and country.

The writer can be contacted at raziazmi@hotmail.com
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...3-4-2006_pg3_4

Imagine such little boys (so much so that their names cannot be revealed!) capable of raping.

If they can rape, then what's the hang up in naming them?

It is stupid of these rapist to bring in culture and religion. One wonders what has culture or religion got to do with rape!

Interesting that they wanted lawyers who were conversant with Islamic law. What tripe! As if Islamic law condoned rape! In fact, if it were Saudi Arabia, they would have got it real bad! Real bad!

The father claims that there could have been no rape since he was praying throughout the night. Great, A religious father with disgustingly sinning sons! Why do they bring in religion in everything?

The father seems to be a crook. He claimed “He told me... Satan come to him and tell him different things. He told me that sometimes even the green grass whisper to him.” but refused to place his hand on the Holy Quran when sworn in because he said he had not performed ablution. What a weasel like excuse! Further what a freak of another excuse - "The father, who gave evidence in the trial and said the rapes could not have happened because he had been home all night, bowed on his prayer mat.

Praying all night? Sex behind the curtains and the father in deep prayers!

With such a skunk for a father, the children have indeed shown what can be imbibed from their ancestry!

The article rightly brings out that these skunks have "besmirched the name of their culture, religion and country".