I received this email from the Avaaz Community. It is important enough to repost. Please sign in on the site and sign the petition.
Dear friends,
It’s hard to believe, but a 15-year-old rape survivor has been sentenced to be whipped 100 times in public! Let’s put an end to this lunacy by hitting the Maldives government where it hurts: the tourism industry.
The girl’s stepfather is accused of raping her for years and murdering the baby she bore.Now the court says she must be flogged for “sex outside marriage” with another man, who has not even been named! President Waheed of the Maldives is already feeling global pressure on this, and we can force him to save this girl and change the law to spare other victims this cruel fate. This is how we can end the War on Women – by standing up every time an outrage like this happens.
Tourism is the big earner for the Maldives elite, including government ministers. Let’s build a million-strong petition to President Waheed this week, then threaten the islands’ reputation through hard-hitting ads in travel magazines and online until he steps in to save her and abolish this outrageous law. Sign and forward this email now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/maldives_global/?buPIheb&v=23416
The Maldives is a paradise for tourists. But it’s not always so for the women that live there. There are countries that have even harsher interpretations of Islamic sharia law, but in the Maldives women and children can be publically whipped if found guilty of extramarital sex or adultery. Pre marital ‘fornication’ is illegal, but despite always involving a man and a woman, 90% of the people punished are women! And while a staggering one in three women between ages 15 and 49 have suffered physical or sexual abuse — zero rapists were convicted in the past three years.
Winning this battle can help women everywhere, as the Maldives government is right now running for a top UN human rights position – on a platform of women’s rights! The Maldives is on its own journey to build democracy and wants be a ‘model Islamic democracy’. The President has asked the Attorney-General to appeal the sentence in the 15-year-old’s case. But that’s not enough. Extremists inside the country will force him to abandon further reforms if international attention fades. Let’s tell the Maldives that it stands to lose its reputation as a romantic tourist hot spot unless it moves quickly to uphold universal human and women’s rights.
If enough of us raise our voices, we can get President Waheed and MPs to face down the extremists. The president has already been pushed to act by this shameful, tragic story – let’s seize this moment to prevent more horrifying injustices against girls and women. Sign the petition, then send this email widely:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/maldives_global/?buPIheb&v=23416
When certain extreme cases spark the global public conscience it is crucial to speak out whether it is the US, India or the Maldives. Avaaz members have fought many battles in the global war on women. In Afghanistan, we helped protect a young woman who bravely spoke out about her horrific rape; in Honduras, we fought alongside local women against a law that would jail women using the morning-after pill. Now it’s time to stand with the women of the Maldives.
With hope and determination,
Jeremy, Mary, Nick, Alex, Ricken, Laura, Michelle and the whole Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION
Maldives girl to get 100 lashes for pre-marital sex (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21595814
Maldives government to appeal flogging of rape victim (Dawn, Pakistan)
http://dawn.com/2013/03/01/maldives-government-to-appeal-flogging-of-rape-victim/
Rape victims punished, failed by Maldives justice system (Minivan news, Maldives)
http://minivannews.com/society/raped-victims-punished-failed-by-law-in-the-maldives-53760
Judicial statistics show 90 percent of those convicted for fornication are female (Minivan news, Maldives)
http://minivannews.com/politics/judicial-statistics-show-90-percent-of-those-convicted-for-fornication-are-female-44605
FB and twiitered this is so horrible.
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Thank you! It is absolutely barbaric!
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Thank you very much!
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It’s just so sick!
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Done. Horrific.
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Thank you Julie!
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she is someone’s daughter and it must be beyond anything i know to have a child who has been victimized in this way and then punished for it????? i will be emailing and reblogging this. thank you so much for using your platform in her name.
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Reblogged this on the dr. says and commented:
please read this and then do what you can to make a difference. it starts with you!
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Thank you!
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Looking for the petition to sign. This twisted hatred of women is terrible.
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Did you find the link?
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This saddens me terribly
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It is dreadful and beyond all imagination!
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The step father should receive the lashes and more….so horrible that humans can treat other humans with such disregard.
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He should be strapped naked to an ant heap with honey poured over him…
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Agree.
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How horrible…I signed the petition…posted it on FB…and emailed it to my friends to consider signing. Women everywhere need respect!
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Thank you for reposting!
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Done and done!! This disgusts and saddens me beyond words.
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Thank you for reblogging!
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Reblogged this on Connective Tissue Disorders: My Journey.
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Reblogged this on scienerf and commented:
Careful of the ***Triggers*** but this has made me so mad…I won’t be visiting the Maldives until things change that’s for sure!
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Thank you so much for reposting!
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Seeing this post has led me on a bit of a rampage on facebook posting the stories and the petition to try and make people aware…things like this must spread!
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Thank you very much!
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Reblogged this on Reflections on Life Thus Far and commented:
This is horrible. Please sign and share.
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Thank you for reposting!
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You’re welcome. Thanks for sharing the story!
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I am with this organisation too, Tersia, and so dearly support it going around and around the globe. This is utter senseless abuse. The men have decided it’s the law, and so the men do it.
This is chilling. good on you.
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It IS an important repost, yes, Tersia. It is utterly, utterly unbelievable. HOW do we allow men to be in power this way? WHAT can we do.
I am with Avaz too, & hope all that they do, works.
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