The sanctity of woman

I was going through a couple of video tapes the other day to see what I had recorded and came across an episode of Dateline or Foreign Correspondent where they showed a story on Iraq. Instead of just ejecting it again and writing “Iraq” on it I became engrossed and ended up watching about 20 minutes. The focus was around Fallujah and the initial US occupation of the city, and described one particular incident where the wife of a suspected insurgent had been arrested because he wasn’t there. One of the most influential imams of Fallujah was interviewed and described this as one of the worst things the Americans could have done, because “the sanctity of a woman in Islam is higher than anything else. It is higher than religion itself.” Peaceful (but vocally angry) street demonstrations followed, naive and frightened 18-year-old GIs shot unarmed civilians – a general mess.

Based on other things I’ve read I find that ‘sanctity of woman’ deal incredibly difficult to believe anyway, but particularly so when reading a story like this from Pakistan:

The 30-year-old was raped for more than an hour in the village of Meerwala in Punjab province in June 2002, as punishment for her brother’s alleged affair with a woman of a powerful rival clan.

The gang rape was allegedly ordered by the village council.

She was then forced to walk home naked before her father was finally able to cover her with a blanket.

How’s that for sanctity and respect?