GETTY The victim was sentenced to death by stoning despite being a rape victim

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The teenager claimed she was asleep at her family home in Rajanpur in Pakistan’s central Punjab province when she was attacked. She reported the crime to the local panchayat - a tribal court that operates outside the official justice system in remote areas of Pakistan. Instead of justice, the group turned on her accusing her of seducing her attacker.

Named only as Shumaila, the woman said: “I could not raise an alarm as Ahmed was holding a gun. But the panchayat refused to accept my statement and declared that I wilfully slept with him.” Reports from Pakistan’s Express Tribune claim the panchayat, which include the alleged rapist’s father, found the victim guilty of adultery, branding her a ‘kari’ or adulteress. According to local media, Shumaila was then sentenced to death by stoning, a fate she could save herself from if she agreed to be sold off. No action was taken against the alleged rapist, named locally as Khalil Ahmed.

GETTY Remote Pakistani villages use tribal councils to resolve disputes