Home / News / Urgent Appeals / PAKISTAN: Gender-biased judge should be transferred from rape trials

PAKISTAN: Gender-biased judge should be transferred from rape trials

April 1, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-032-2009



1 April 2009
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PAKISTAN: Gender-biased judge should be transferred from rape trials

ISSUES: Violence against women; rape; child's rights; administration of justice; ill treatment
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has discovered that a judge whose unprofessional behaviour in a rape trial last month caused widespread concern, has been assigned the case of another teenage rape victim.

CASE DETAILS:

Court spectators and prosecutors expressed outrage at the behaviour of Additional District and Sessions Judge Nizar Ali Khawaja on March 25, 2009 in Karachi, Sindh province, when he allowed the case of a teenage gang rape victim, Ms. Kainat Soomro, to become a spectacle in his courtroom. As the AHRC has reported (AHRC-STM-075-2009) the judge put the girl (who was raped two years ago as a 13-year-old) through a grueling, sexually explicit cross examination in front of her alleged attackers. He used aggressive, sarcastic language and prompted for specifics and demonstrations of the sex act. Justice Khawaja also denied the prosecuting counsel's request to clear the room of at least eighty non-related onlookers who were crowded at the back, according to media. The experience for the girl was intensely traumatic; it affected her testimony and will do little to encourage other rape victims into court.

On April 11 the same judge is scheduled to hear the case of Nasima Lubano, 18, another young victim of gang rape. (See more at UA-039-2007) The Sindh High Court has already transferred the case from Mirpur Mathelo to Karachi because the family reported death threats in their home town.

The role of a judge requires that he or she be balanced, humane and able to protect the dignity of vulnerable plaintiffs in court. In this last case Khawaja addressed the young victim with sarcasm, he expressed a strong gender bias and he humiliated her further in front of her attackers. He should not be given the chance to put another victim of rape through the same ordeal.

Trials in Pakistan rely heavily on cross examinations, which in rape cases are often more comfortably negotiated by the accused--in this case influential men with private lawyers--than the victims, who often come from sheltered backgrounds, have a cultural gender bias working against them, have suffered a brutal ordeal and are represented by overworked public prosecutors. For a judge to be clearly biased against a victim in court damages the credibility of the institution.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please join the AHRC in calling for the removal of sessions judge Nizar Ali Khawaja from this case, and write letters to the authorities listed below, urging them to provide a private in-camera trial for Nasima Lubano with an impartial judge. Please also call for the training of judges in Pakistan so that they can professionally and humanely work with victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women calling for an intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

PAKISTAN: Gender-biased judge should be transferred from rape trials

Name of victims: Ms. Kainat Soomro,15; Ms. Nasima Lubano, 18
Name of the official involved: Additional District and Sessions Judge Nizar Ali Khawaja, Karachi,
Sindh province
Dates of incident: from 25 March 2009 to 11 April 2009

I am writing to voice my deep concern that Justice Nizar Ali Khawaja in Karachi has been assigned to another case involving the gang rape of a minor, despite his recent displays of insensitivity and bias towards young rape victims; I appeal to you for the transfer of the case to another judge in an in-camera hearing.

On March 25, 2009 in Karachi, Sindh province, Khawaja allowed the case of teenage gang rape victim Kainat Soomro to become a spectacle in his courtroom. The judge put the girl (who was raped as a 13-year-old) through a grueling, sexually explicit cross examination in front of her alleged attackers. He used aggressive, sarcastic language and prompted for specifics and demonstrations of the sex act. He also denied the prosecuting counsel's request to clear the room of at least eighty onlookers who were crowded at the back, according to media. The experience for the girl was intensely traumatic and it affected her testimony.

This will do little to encourage other rape victims into court.

I was therefore shocked to discover that another young victim of gang rape, Miss Nasima Lubano, will appear before the same judge on April 11. The role of a judge requires that he or she be balanced, humane and able to protect the dignity of vulnerable plaintiffs in court. Cross examinations in rape cases are often more comfortably negotiated by the accused--in this case influential men with private lawyers--than the victims, who often come from sheltered backgrounds, have a cultural gender bias working against them, have suffered a brutal ordeal and are represented by overworked public prosecutors.

For a judge to be clearly biased against a victim in court damages the credibility of the institution.

I strongly suggest that Justice Khawaja and his peers be required to attend training sessions teaching them how to deal professionally and humanely with victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

I trust you will act accordingly in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

----------------
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani
Prime minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister House, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9221596
E-mail: webmaster@infopak.gov.pk

2. Federal Minister of Law
Justice and Human Rights
S Block, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk

3. Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan
Governor of Sindh province
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 5043
Tel: +92 21 920 1201
E-mail: governor@governorsindh.gov.pk

4. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister House
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000
E-mail: pppsindh@yahoo.com

5. Ms. Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto
Minister for Women Development
7th floor, new secretariat building
Shahra e Iraq, Karachi, Sindh province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213850
E-mail: secy.wd@sindh.gov.pk

6. Mr. Muhammad Ayaz Soomro
Minister for Law, Parliamantry Affairs & Criminal Prosecution Service
Sindh Assembly Building,
Court road, Karachi, Sindh province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9211982
E-mail: secy.law@sindh.gov.pk

7. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar, Karachi
Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
E-mail: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk

8. Ms. Nadia Gabol
Minister for Human Rights
Government of Sindh,
Pakistan secretariat, Barrack 92,
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9207044
Tel: +92 21 9207043
E-mail: lukshmil@yahoo.com

9. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9213452
E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk 

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-032-2009
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.