>Since she was 14 years old, Hajar has been sexually abused by three different members of her family.>Now Hajar is eight months pregnant. TV presenter Ala Chebbi thinks she ought to marry the father, whoever that might be.>Appearing on Tunisian talk show Andi Mankolek (I’ve Got Something to Tell You), Chebbi chastized Hajar for getting pregnant out of wedlock, and advised her to “marry” her rapist.>“Admit that you are at fault,” he told her.>Hajar appeared on the show with her brother. Her face was pixelated during the broadcast.>The talk show has since been suspended.>Hajar has been kicked out of her family’s home. Chebbi target="_blank">said that marrying her off will “contain the situation.”
>The TV presenter has since target="_blank">insisted that his remarks were blown out of proportion. He claims he only suggested marriage because there was “a lack of evidence” of rape.>He added that if the abusers were proven guilty, they should be punished.>Article 227 of Tunisia’s legal code dismisses rape charges if the rapist marries the victim.>Uproar on social media culminated with the creation of a Facebook page titled ‘ target="_blank">Marry your rapist‘ to campaign against the law.>“The punishment for rape is imprisonment, not marriage.”
>Many Arab countries have been criticized for laws that drop rape charges in case of a rapist-victim marriage.>In July, Lebanese MP Keyrouz proposed target="_blank">cancelling a law that “allows rape charges to be dropped against an offender if he marries his victim.”>In Egypt, marrying the victim of rape allowed the offender to avoid persecution under Article 291 of the penal code. The law was abolished in 1999.