Women Wear Blood Stained Wedding Dresses to Protest Islamic Law That Pardons Rapists Who Marry Their Victims

Islam is inherently misogynistic, which is seen through the way women are subjected to abuse and oppression in countries that implement Islamic law.

“Article 522 of the Lebanese Penal Code exempts from punishment a rapist who marries his victim”

In the Quran, there is no word for rape, which is most likely due to the fact that Islam’s Muhammad used the raping of war captives as a common practice. Thus, as seen through Lebanese law, men in Islamic nations often get away with rape by holding their victims captive through the practice of marital rape. By holding their female victims captive through forced marriage, Muslim men are only doing what Muhammed would have wanted.

“Qur’an 33:50—O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war …”

Wearing white wedding dresses covered in blood while holding signs that read “‘[A] white dress does not cover up rape,” women in Lebanon have been protesting forced marriages to their rapists.

“Women in Blood-Stained Wedding Dresses Demonstrate against Lebanese Law Exonerating Rapists Who Marry Their Victims”

MEMRI TV, December 5, 2017

A campaign against Article 522 of the Lebanese penal code, which permits rapists to avoid punishment by marrying their victims, made gains on December 7, after the parliamentary Committee for Administration and Justice announced that it had decided to abolish the article, according to an Al-Arabi Al-Yawm TV report. On December 6, a demonstration was waged by the ABAAD association, with women standing in the street in blood-stained wedding dresses, holding placards that read: “A white dress does not cover up rape. Undress 522.” Footage of the demonstration was broadcast by Al-Jadeed/New TV.

Text: “Article 522 of the Lebanese Penal Code exempts from punishment a rapist who marries his victim”

Narrator: “With this video, which reflects the sentiments of any woman forced to marry her rapist, the ABAAD association began its campaigning to abolish Article 522 of the [Lebanese] penal code. The article stipulates that a rapist is exempt from punishment if he marries his victim. The campaign has almost accomplished its goal, after the parliamentary Committee of Administration and Justice announced that it had decided to abolish the article. The details will be deliberated next Wednesday, and from there it will be referred to parliament for ratification.”

[…]

“This is not the first time that civil campaigns have managed to bring about legislative change in Lebanon. These campaigns employ various means, such as demonstrations, symbolic sit-ins, and various activities, aimed at raising public awareness and exerting pressure on the decision-makers.”

[…]

Narrator 2: “‘White dress does not cover up rape. Undress522’ – with this slogan, the ABAAD association renewed its activity, standing silently in (Beirut’s) Riad Al Solh Square, demanding the abolishment of this article, and the right of rape survivors to refuse to marry their rapist.”

Hiam Bakt: “We have come to say: Don’t marry us off to our rapist. I think that he should be executed or sentenced to life in solitary confinement. The important thing is that he be placed on trial. Somebody hurts us, causes us psychological damage, and makes us ill. We can no longer eat, drink or think. All we do is wonder: What did we do to deserve this? Is it because we are weak? We are not weak. We are strong. Once, when I was lying in hospital, a male nurse sexually harassed me. He attacked me when I was asleep.”