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Pakistan rape victim gets married | Pakistan rape victim gets married |
(about 7 hours later) | |
A Pakistani gang rape victim who won international acclaim as a campaigner for women's rights has married. | A Pakistani gang rape victim who won international acclaim as a campaigner for women's rights has married. |
Mukhtar Mai was raped by four men in her village as a punishment after her 12-year-old brother was accused of adultery in 2002. | Mukhtar Mai was raped by four men in her village as a punishment after her 12-year-old brother was accused of adultery in 2002. |
She ignored taboos about her ordeal and fought to have her attackers convicted. | She ignored taboos about her ordeal and fought to have her attackers convicted. |
Since then Mukhtar Mai has become a champion for women's rights in her country and an internationally-recognised figure. | |
Six men arrested and sentenced to death in connection with the gang rape are still in custody pending a retrial. | Six men arrested and sentenced to death in connection with the gang rape are still in custody pending a retrial. |
'In Allah's hand' | |
Ms Mai had said she was not sure she would ever marry, but on Sunday wed police constable Nasir Abbas Gabol in Muzaffargarh district, near Multan in Punjab province. | |
"When you get married, you have to have faith in your partner and his family. I will try to cooperate with them," she told Associated Press. | |
"You know, I never said that I would not marry, I said that these things - relationships - are in the hands of Allah. I said if I got a good man I would get married. | |
Ms Mai is known around the world for her campaigning | |
"Now, as I thought fit, and with the agreement of my parents and other people, I've got married." | |
Mukhtar Mai is constable Nasir Abbas Gabol's second wife. The marriage was solemnised at a simple ceremony in her village, Mirwala. | |
She first met Nasir Abbas when he was posted at the police station in the village after her gang rape in 2002. | |
"Eighteen months ago, he sent his parents to ask me if I would marry him. I declined because I knew he was already married and I didn't want to ruin his first wife's life," Mukhtar Mai told the BBC Urdu service. | |
Nasir Abbas did not take his rejection well and "threatened to divorce his first wife. He also tried to commit suicide", Mukhtar Mai says. | |
His sisters are married into his first wife's family - and in a tit-for-tat move they were threatened with divorce too if Nasir Abbas divorced his first wife. | |
Nasir Abbas's first wife and his two sisters approached Mukhtar Mai and pleaded with her to marry Nasir Abbas. | |
"So I married him on humanitarian grounds. I didn't want three families breaking up because of me," she says. | |
'Courage' | |
Mukhtar Mai won widespread international support when she spoke out after being raped - allegedly on the order of a village council. | Mukhtar Mai won widespread international support when she spoke out after being raped - allegedly on the order of a village council. |
She has also written a best-selling autobiography and opened a school and a chain of women's crisis centres in Pakistan. | |
In 2005, she was honoured as Woman of the Year by Glamour magazine in a ceremony in Washington. | In 2005, she was honoured as Woman of the Year by Glamour magazine in a ceremony in Washington. |
The award praised Ms Mai for "her incredible courage and optimism in the face of terrible violence". | The award praised Ms Mai for "her incredible courage and optimism in the face of terrible violence". |
Critics of Pakistan's judicial system and social systems say the Mukhtar Mai case is an example of appalling treatment often handed out to women, particularly in feudal, rural areas. | Critics of Pakistan's judicial system and social systems say the Mukhtar Mai case is an example of appalling treatment often handed out to women, particularly in feudal, rural areas. |
Her rape was allegedly ordered by a village council as a punishment for a misdemeanour blamed on her brother. | Her rape was allegedly ordered by a village council as a punishment for a misdemeanour blamed on her brother. |