2011-02-11 15:39:29

Bangladesh teen dies after being raped, whipped


(February 11, 2011) A teenage Bangladeshi girl who died six days after being publicly whipped had been raped by her alleged lover, her father told the high court in Dhaka on Thursday. 15-year old Hena Begum died in hospital last week from injuries suffered when she was lashed with a rope by village elders as an Islamic sharia punishment for an alleged extra-marital affair with her cousin. "The victim's father told the court his daughter was raped by her cousin, and then tortured in an illegal sharia punishment," deputy attorney general Altaf Hossain told AFP. An initial post-mortem examination found "no external injury marks" on Hena, triggering public outcry at police handling of the case and prompting activists to petition the high court. Police launched a murder investigation after the body was exhumed and a second post-mortem found Hena had died of internal bleeding. Salma Ali, a lawyer with Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association, the group that brought the case to court, said officials had concealed the cause of Hena's death, alleging the police fabricated evidence to make it look like Hena was having an affair. One village elder in court, Idris Sheikh, who is alleged to have organised the whipping, was arrested immediately after the hearing. Her cousin and alleged lover, Mahbub Khan, was arrested on Wednesday. Last July, Bangladesh's High Court outlawed punishments handed down by religious edict, or fatwa, following a series of cases brought by local human rights groups.







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