atrocity.

this is a photo of mukhtar mai, a pakistani woman.

why, you ask, is she crying?

her brother shakoor was raped by members of the mastoi tribe. to cover up their sins, they claimed he was involved with a mastoi woman. they demanded vengeance - and shakoor's tribal council agreed.

the punishment they agreed upon was to have his sister gang-raped. it's traditional tribal law - despite the fact that it is utterly illegal. so she was brought before four mastoi men and brutally raped.

because her brother was raped.

but that's not why she's crying.

see, mai decided to take the courts up on their notion of justice. she filed charges.

the result of this was that fourteen men were charged with various crimes. six were convicted, including the head of the village council.

things got so bad after mai filed that she was placed under heavy guard. endless death threats and multiple attempts on her life; her family suffered. the case eventually made its way into pakistan's antiterror courts because of the increasing pressure from tribal men.

so why is she crying?

here's why.

Five men sentenced to death in 2002 for their role in a gang rape that was approved by a council in a remote Pakistani village had their convictions overturned Thursday. A sixth man convicted in the case, which set off worldwide outrage, had his death sentence commuted to life in prison, lawyers in the case said.

(new york times.)

somebody don't tell ginmar. i can barely handle news like this without exploding, frankly. adrenaline is whooshing through my body; i feel like my heart is going to leap out of my chest with rage.