Activists ramp up pressure on Lebanon’s rape law
April 22, 2017
Calls increase for the repeal of controversial law allowing rapists to avoid punishment if they marry their victims.
Lebanese activists ramped up their campaign to scrap a controversial law allowing rapists who marry their victims to go free, with a dramatic installation on Saturday along Beirut’s sunny seafront.
A proposal to scrap Article 522 of the penal code – which deals with rape, assault, kidnapping and forced marriage – was introduced last year and approved by a parliamentary committee in February.
It will go before parliament on May 15 and activists hope that MPs will vote to eliminate it.
On Saturday they urged Lebanese citizens to sign a petition to ramp up the pressure on legislators at an open-air exhibit.
Thirty-one wedding dresses made of white lace and wrapping paper hung limply from nooses between four palm trees along the Lebanese capital’s corniche.
