Syrian men promise to marry raped women

Summary of story from Washington Post, June 20, 2011

A group of men in Syria have pledged to marry women they have never met who were allegedly raped by security forces during the violence that has swept the country.

Ibrahim Kayyis, a 32-year-old baker from Jisr al-Shugour, a town that was stormed by troops, is one of the men outraged by what has happened to the women, who include four sisters from the nearby town of Sumeriya, who were allegedly raped by pro-government Shabiha militiamen.

“It made us so mad. Such an injustice. We have decided, we will marry them,” said Kayyis.

Families in Syria have been known to kill raped female members to reclaim their “honour”. Even if families allow such women to live, they are not eligible to marry.

“We sat and discussed that we want to change this. We don’t want to change just the regime in Syria, but also this kind of stuff. So we will marry them in front of everyone,” Kayyis said.

The four sisters are in a hospital in Turkey, he said. It is not possible to verify their story, or their exact whereabouts, because the men will not identify them out of consideration for the shame it would bring upon the women’s family.