>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.”

Source: Facebook
>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.