“Make This Case Go Away”
This is from today’s Kuwait Times.
MP Intervenes to save rapists
by Hanan Al-Saadoun
Kuwait: Two men accused of kidnap, rape and assault were let off the hook after pressure from a lawmaker and a senior police officer. A captain from the Traffic Department was on duty in Khaitan when he saw a parked car with an Asian maid in it and a man standing next to the car. The maid suddenly pointed to the officer and cried for help, so the captain rushed to the car and found another man inside with the maid.
The captain asked the man outside what the problem was. The main replied that this was a runaway maid and he was a detective. The captain asked for his ID but the man refused. The captain then realized that the man smelled of alcohol.
The men suddenly assaulted the captain and bit his hand, injuring him severely (emphasis added by blogger.) After the captain subdued both men, they confessed that they were drunk and that they had tried to rape the maid. The captain then tried to file a case at the Khaitan police station against the two men, but the MP intervened and tried to stop the captain from registering the case. The captain persisted and kept pushing to file a case for a week, until his superior intervened too and told him to “forget the incident.”
My comment: If I ever stop getting outraged when I read reports like this, God forbid, I will be dead.
First, the maid’s life is seriously damaged. Any victim can tell you that the terror of abduction, with or without rape, resonates through your life. When you are in a situation where you have no power, and are at the mercy of someone stronger or more powerful than you are, it is a life-changing event. And would her sponsor accept her back, even though it were no fault of her own? Would they not be afraid she might be diseased? They might even accuse her of inviting the assault – and this was an assault.
Second, these young men lied to the police, impersonated a police officer, resisted arrest and caused bodily harm to a senior police official. Did you notice – THEY CONFESSED.
Third, the police captain had the guts and integrity to persue filing this case against these wicked young men, inspite of pressures from above. WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO on you, brave one, for your integrity.
Last, kudos for Hanan al-Sadoun who does such a great job presenting so many of these outrageous stories in an objective manner, letting us fill in the details and express our outrage in our blogs. Brava, habeebti.
Evidently this air tight case will never get to court.
And what have these young men learned about accountability? That their name and wasta will make their despicable actions go away? What is the fitting punishment for what they have done? C’mon readers, check in on this one.
OK, OK, I’ll take a deep breath and stop now.
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This is FU@$*ing outrageous!!! It is so damn sad what still happens to women!! They have been raped throughout time and still are, when is it going to end!!!
What I’d do to punish them slowly and painfully!!
I hear stories of what my students do to their wives also, it’s not very different from rape!!
Please add me in your blogroll.
This is outrageous!
Glossing over the crime beat in the local dailies I am tempted to ask if Kuwait is suddenly the new South Africa for crimes against women? It would seem the problem stems from a powerful Bangladeshi drugs & prostitution mafia active here who want to turn Kuwait into an East End of London (of sorts) minus the glitzy office towers,that is. No kidding that it is this same mafia who now have spread their tentacles into various other commercial activities, in effect, controlling the taxi service, the gold market, the souk samak and what have you?
its sad to think that i read that knowing how it would turn out. perhaps i’ve been here too long. what wont get reported is how the noble captains life will now be a living hell with his family probably harrassed until those criminals get tired.
and yeah there are mafias from every country here, indian, pakistan, philipines, indonesia,…. but for every one of those there are kuwaitis taking kickbacks for residence permits and police officers getting paid under the table to look the other way.
foreign criminals would not florish without the help of local kuwaiti criminals.
Uh. … I don’t think these were criminals, at least not in the organized sense. It sounds like they were kids, guys in their 20’s, who felt entitled to yank some gal off the street for their own pleasure, and then who knew they were in trouble, BIT a police officer and called “Wah Wah Waaaaaaah” and somebody cut them a break. It’s shameful. Their names should be published and every time their name comes up for a proposed marriage, the girl in question and her family should be informed of their conduct. It’s purely shameful. Who would want to marry a man like that?
This is absolutely not acceptable, though I wouldn’t be surprised, I personally witnessed a lot of violations by police officers while working in the human rights field. For future reference, if you need or know of anyone that needs help or has been mistreated or violated in any way please let me know. I head a human rights organization that covers many issues and particularly the protection of labour expats, we’re also trying to change labour laws in order to have a strong jurisdiction if we ever have to go to court.
wait til that MP has a female of his family raped, or attempted rape… might re-think the severity of the issue then, mightn’t he! A**hole.
Holy WOW, sws, I am adding you to my blogroll. Readers, please visit this site and keep it on file for when you know someone who needs help:
Social Work Society of Kuwait.
Our book tells us to “give voice to those who have no voices.” You are truly doing God’s work, and may be bless you abundantly.
This is embarassing for me as a Kuwaiti.
And the MP! How corrupt and black hearted do you have to be to help some bastards get away with kidnapping someone ands trying to rape her? Aren’t you afraid they’ll pick up your daughter next? What goes around comes around, no one gets away with this kind of stuff, there’s a divine justice working it’s way towards you as well.
What’s sad is that rape isn’t taken as seriously as it should be not only here but all over the world. The United States which sets an example in many areas has a punishment that could go as low as 3 years for rape if I’m not mistaken. Dealing with rape lightly is genuine proof of how belittled women are no matter how much they acheive here or anywhere else. In defense of our legal system, the punishment for rape can be quite severe – execution. I think rapists ought to be slain in front of everyone because part of me can’t help but feel that if they kill the woman it’s more merciful than raping her.
You are absolutely right, 1001, no country is immune. And sometimes the penalties are laughable, but . . . drop the case?
Again, it’s not like that doesn’t happen in every country, too, and the only thing that ever changes that is if enough people raise their voice in outrage.
Many many women survive rape and go on to live a full and fruitful life. Rape is unfortunately, so common and most people have no clue. But end her life being merciful? Not even in Kuwait. If you figure one out of five women has been raped at some time in her life, you would lose a healthy segment of the population!
corruption is filling the country, why r u surprised ?
No I meant that if they had a choice of EITHER murder or rape then I think murder would be the more merciful fate.
I am feeling better this morning. We have daily readings in our book,and here is a portion from today’s readings, in the Psalms:
14The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to kill those who walk uprightly;
15their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.
16Better is a little that the righteous person has
than the abundance of many wicked.
17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.
I don’t know how that made you feel better?
It didn’t change the fact that that women got raped and many many more are still being raped and still will be raped!
If I were in her shoes I sure won’t be thinking of how God will punish them ONE DAY!
Elijah, I can increase the visibility of some things, but I can’t change them. If I let them eat away at me, it doesn’t help anything either. It comforts me to know that there is a divine justice, even if I can’t see it. As Zin / 1001 says, there is a karmic law about what you do unto others coming back at you. If you are generous to others, it comes back hundreds and thousandsfull. If you do harm to others, you are inviting divine retribution.
It relieves me of the burden of thinking I have to do something, when there is nothing much I can do except stew.
Kuwait needs a rape crisis line.
This sucks… We desperately need a rape crisis center in Kuwait.
You are SO right, EniGma.
[…] is not unlike Make This Case Go Away where two youths are caught with a maid they have abducted and raped, they fight the arresting […]