Close up: Abusive leniency By Salama A Salama I am not in the habit of second guessing the law and I don't think that anyone has the right to question the probity of the judiciary or the way a judge would rule in a certain case. We trust our judges to do the right thing, to take attenuating circumstances into account or to hand down maximum punishment when necessary. But in the end judges are only human and their way of thinking reflects that of society as a whole. So it is our duty to call for a new understanding of justice when leniency is being abused. Take, for example, the case in which an Egyptian court has sentenced a coffeehouse owner to two years in prison on charges of rape. Here is the kicker. The man in question raped two girls and told the court that he threatened one of them with a razor blade. What attenuating circumstances could the judge have considered for a man who rapes children with a razor blade? I am not a judge, but I know one who agrees with me. International legal expert Fouad Riyad was appalled by the ruling. Not only did the perpetrator violate the innocence of two youngsters, he also scarred them for life. He took two helpless children and robbed them of everything they have. This man deserves more that two years in prison, a lot more. A few days ago, international organisations, including the UN Human Rights Council, called for rape in situations of war to be considered an act of genocide. Collective rape is used as a weapon by culprits to break the resistance of their opponents. During the Balkans war, the Serbs used rape systematically against their Muslim foes. It was a tactic designed to humiliate and distract the opposition -- a cold and calculated act of war. International courts have since condemned perpetrators to life imprisonment, charging them with genocide. Perhaps there is a difference between a crime committed by a coffeehouse owner and those perpetrated in times of war, but not that much. Rape is no longer a rare occurrence in our society. Everyday we hear about women being abducted in public transportation, only to be brutally raped and abandoned on the outskirts of town. In some cases, the victims ended up dead. We have to put a stop to these crimes and the starting point would be to apply forceful laws, and apply them forcefully. Ours is a conventional society that segregates men and women and keeps the lid on sexual crimes. There are cases of incest that go unreported. There are cases of sexual abuse that go unreported. And the judiciary has a tradition of going easy on rapists. All this has to end. We have to encourage people to report sexual crimes. We have to get our judges to see how serious these crimes are. Organisations that specialise in providing care for women and children should speak up. The laws can be changed. But more importantly, we need to change our way of thinking.
