Syrian men promise to marry women raped during unrest

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A group of men in Syria have pledged to marry women who were raped during the violence that swept the country in the recent months.

They have committed themselves to an unlikely way of challenging the violence by government and its allies, who used women as instruments of war, The Washington Post reports.

Ibrahim Kayyis, a 32-year-old baker from Jisr al-Shugour, a town that was stormed by troops has promised to marry 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,” the paper quoted him, as saying.

Families in Syria have been known to kill raped female members to reclaim their ‘honor’. 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,” said Kayyis.

Another person Mohammed Mourey, a pharmacist from Jisr al-Shugour initially proposed marrying the women as he believed that raped women are victims of the revolution, and it is their duty to protect them, the paper said.

Mourey said that when he first thought of the idea, 15 men came forward to volunteer. The group was then narrowed to four.

“Dignity and reputation are the most important things for Syrians. And women are a big part of this, and the regime knows it. So, for this reason, they do this to us as the opposition,” said Musab Jani, a 25-year-old man who volunteered to join Mourey’s initiative.

The men said that rapes and other assaults on women signify an escalation of violence by the government and its allies, which have sought to discredit the opposition movement.