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Islamabad (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that he would like convicted rapists to be publicly executed or chemically castrated, in response to a question about the rape of a woman on a road last week that has caused a stir in the South Asian nation. .
Last week, a mother of two who was driving on a major highway near Lahore was dragged out of her car and raped by two men at gunpoint, one of whom was arrested by police on Monday.
Khan said he believed the culprits should be publicly hanged, but added that officials had informed him that such an act could jeopardize a preferential trade status granted to Pakistan by the European Union (EU).
The status of the EU Generalized System of Preferences (GSP-plus), granted to Pakistan in 2014, depends on the observance of international conventions, such as human rights.
However, Khan said he was also looking into the option of chemical castration.
“The way there is murder in the first degree, second degree, third degree, this [rape] must be graded in the same way, and when there is first grade [rape], castrate them. Trade on them and make them unable to do this, “Khan said in an interview on a Pakistani news channel.
Khan’s remarks came as Pakistani officials announced that one of the two main suspects in the highway rape case had been arrested and admitted to the crime. Officials said they also had a positive DNA match. The search for the second suspect is still continuing.
Police recovered DNA samples from the site and used GPS data from cell phone networks to identify the people who were at the site when the attack occurred.
The shocking assault sparked protests across the country and called for the resignation of officials, as well as the public hanging of rapists in Pakistan.
This February, lawmakers introduced legislation for the public hanging of those convicted of child sexual abuse and murder, but the law was not passed.
(Reporting by Umar Farooq; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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