Pakistani judge jails sex-change couple
PAKISTAN: A Pakistani judge jailed a married couple after ruling that
the husband was also a woman despite earlier sex-change surgery.
The judge at Lahore High Court in eastern Pakistan ruled that the
pair had lied about the husband’s gender and that operations to make the
husband a full man were not carried out properly.
Judge Khwaja Mohammad Sharif said he would announce the length of the
sentences on Friday and that he was further considering whether to try
the pair for homosexuality.
“It was an illegal and un-Islamic marriage which is not sustainable
under the law,” the judge said.
The husband, Shamile Raj, 31, married his cousin Shehzina Tariq in
September last year in what they said was a bid to avoid her being sold
off to pay the debts of her hard-gambling uncle.
But Tariq’s father filed a court application asking for the marriage
to be dissolved after he suspected that Raj was not a man and that it
was against Islam for two women to marry.
Bearded, short-haired Raj appeared in court on Tuesday and admitted
giving a false statement. A medical examination ordered by the High
Court showed that doctors had earlier removed Raj’s breasts and uterus.
“I underwent surgery to change my sex. I was still in the process of
getting my sex changed and was planning to go abroad to have a complete
surgery,” Raj said. Raj said he now feared for his life.
Tariq said she knew about Raj’s gender and got married because her
father wanted to marry her off to a man without her consent. “I married
Shamile Raj knowing each and every thing about her,” she told AFP as
police escorted her to jail.
Lahore, Wednesday, AFP
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