Activists in Lebanon created a powerful art installation (April 22, 2017) to protest a law that allows rapist who marry their victims to go unpunished. The display included 31 wedding dresses hung from nooses along the Beirut’s Seaside Promenade.
Lebanese-born artist Mireille Honein, who created the exhibit explained the dresses were hung to represent the lives of women forced to live with their assailants. “I hung them up, because this type of law simply robs women of their essence, leaves them without an identity and suspends them in a life that does not suit them and is shameful for those imposing it on them,” said Honein in an interview with Al Jazeera.
The installation was part of a petition drive organized by ABAAD, a non-profit organization that advocates for gender equality. Speaking on the number of dresses in the display, ABAAD organizer Alia Awada stated, “There are 31 days in a month and every single day, a woman may be raped and forced to marry her rapist.”
Known as article 522 and enacted by parliament in February 2016, the law allows for the suspension of a rape, kidnapping or statutory rape conviction if the assailant marries the victim. Activists are working to end the marriage clause and also increase the sentence for rape from five years to seven.
It’s not the only law that’s unfavorable to women. In Lebanon, abortion is illegal, as is adultery and there is no such concept as marital rape.
Parliament will meet again in mid-May and at which time they may consider repealing the law.
Check out a video from the event as well as a campaign video.
