Jamal Muhammed Rahim Al Nasir was handed a harsher sentence for raping two Asian girls, as the judge claimed that the girls would suffer greater psychological harm due to the 'shame' attached to the assault they suffered, and the impact it would have on their future marriage prospects within their cultural communities.

We condemn this racist ruling. 

We call for racial and cultural stereotyping to have no place in criminal law.

We call for a recognition that rape is equally harmful to rape victims, regardless of their cultural background.

 We call for recognition that rape and sexual assault is an attack on the individual victim, not on her value as determined by her male relatives within a patriarchal marriage market. 

We call for recognition that there is no cultural or ethnic group that is 'less harmed' and therefore, implicitly, 'more acceptable' to subject to rape and sexual assault.

We call for all women to be equal in the eyes of the law when determining the harm inflicted and sentencing appropriate to rape and sexual assault.