Pregnant Ethiopian Teenager Convicted by Court over 'Gang-Rape'

An Ethiopian teenager, who claimed she was gang-raped in Sudan, had been convicted of “indecent acts”.

The 18-year-old woman was three months pregnant at the time of the alleged attack.

She was apprehended after a video of her allegedly being sexually abused was circulated on the social media.

Three men admitted having sex with the woman, while two of them confessed uploading the video on the Internet. The ‘rapists’ were reportedly sentenced to being whipped.

The trio shall get 100 lashes for adultery, while the two men sentenced to 40 lashes for distributing indecent material, according to women’s rights group Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA).

As concerns, the woman, she has been sentenced to a one-month jail term, but this was suspended because of her pregnancy.

According to the AFP news agency, she was also fined 5,000 Sudanese pounds (approx. N142,500).

The woman had also faced charges of adultery and prostitution, which could have led to a penalty of death by stoning.

She escaped death only because she convinced the court she was divorced, reports SIHA. Now the Ethiopian faces deportation.

The campaign group revealed the woman was house-hunting, when she was lured to an empty property and attacked in Omdurman, just across the River Nile from Khartoum.

The group’s regional director Hala Elkarib condemned the conviction, saying it would prevent women from reporting sexual abuse.

Sudanese law is based on Sharia and women have been punished for wearing trousers or not covering their hair.