A Pakistan court freed a rapist after he married his victim in a settlement brokered by a council of elders in the northwest of the country, his lawyer said Wednesday.
The decision has outraged rights activists, who say it legitimises sexual violence against women in a country where a majority of rape goes unreported.
Dawlat Khan, 25, was sentenced in May to life imprisonment by a lower court in Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province for raping a deaf woman.
He was released from prison on Monday after the Peshawar High Court accepted an out-of-court settlement agreed upon by the rape survivor’s family.
Speaking after his client was released, Khan’s lawyer Amjad Ali outlined the background to the deal: ‘The rapist and the victim are from the same extended family.
‘Both families have patched up after an agreement was reached with the help of local jirga (traditional council),’ he added.
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