Cabinet comes to the rescue of rape victims from getting repeatedly raped by their attacker
Article 308 allowed rapists to go scoot free if married their victims for at least three years.
That is what women in Jordan have been undergoing for ages, well until now.
The archaic law that protected rapists in Jordan from being punished if they married their victims for at least three years is set to be scrapped after the country’s cabinet revoked it on Sunday.
The Jordanian cabinet recommended removing Article 308 from the country’s penal code on Sunday following years of campaigning by Human rights activists.
Apparently supporters of the law have claimed it protected the victim’s reputation and protects them from honor killings.
Last year, Jordan’s lawmakers amended the law so that a rapist could only use the loophole to marry his victim if she was aged between 15 and 18 and the attack – which it would be classed as due to the girl’s age – was believed to have been consensual.
A royal committee in February however suggested a total scrapping of the law which the cabinet has finally done.
The cabinet’s decision now awaits final approval from Parliament and King Abdullah II which is all but guaranteed.
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