Pakistani court gives 2 men life in jail over child abuse scandal
A court in Pakistan has handed down life sentences to two convicts involved in the country’s largest child abuse and extortion scandal.
“Two convicts in the Kasur child abuse case have been handed life imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 rupees ($2,860) each by an anti-terrorism court of Lahore,” said Sheikh Saeed Ahmed, the chief prosecutor of Punjab, on Monday.
The scandal shocked Pakistan in August last year after it was revealed that for the past nine years, a local gang had been filming sexual exploitation of children below 14 years of age, all residents of Hussain Khanwala village in the Kasur district, southwest of Lahore.
The 400 pornographic videos of at least 280 victims were circulated during the nine-year period for 50 rupees (40 US cents) each. In some cases, the videos were used to blackmail the children’s parents. The scandal gained national attention early in August after clashes broke out in the village between parents protesting against the police's failure to arrest those responsible.
After the scandal surfaced, about 20 arrests were made and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif vowed to “severely” punish the perpetrators.
On March 11, the Pakistani Senate passed a bill that criminalized for the first time sexual assault against minors, child pornography and trafficking. Previously, only the acts of rape and sodomy were punishable by law.
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