Teenage Maldives rape victim is spared lashing
Maldives tourism officials will have welcomed news that its High Court has overturned the sentence of a 15-year-old girl who was due to receive 100 lashes for engaging in premarital sex.
The case led to a major human rights campaign on social media, which called for a boycott of the destination.
The girl was raped by her stepfather, who is also accused of killing the child she bore.
A petition on global campaign site Avaaz.org got millions of supporters.
The campaign gained massive support throughout the world, including high profile figures like Sir Richard Branson.
The High Court ruled this week that the girl, whose stepfather is on trial for raping her, had been wrongly convicted by a juvenile court.
In said the sentence of the lower court was based on a confession the girl made while she was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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