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27th Apr 2017

Jordanian law forcing victims to marry their rapists could be scrapped

Anna O'Rourke

A law allowing rapists in Jordan to avoid punishment by offering to marry their victims may be scrapped.

Under Article 308 of the Jordanian Penal Code, rapists had to marry their victims for three years to be pardoned for their crime.

The Jordanian cabinet revoked Article 308 on Sunday, the BBC has reported.

If the country’s MPs pass the change through parliament, it will mean an end to the controversial law.

The law was amended last year so that rapists could only marry victims who were between the ages of 15 and 18 and the rape was thought to be consensual.

Those who supported the law argued that this protected the victim’s honour.

Campaigners have been fighting to have the law, which dates back to the 1960s, removed for several years.