Bangladesh introduces death penalty for rape.

The Show Time/source BBC

Law Minister Anisul Haq told that the president would issue an ordinance soon making it a law. There was widespread outrage in Bangladesh last week after footage of a brutal gang assault on a 37-year-old woman went viral on social media. At least 1,000 rapes have been reported in Bangladesh this year, activists say. But many cases go unreported because women fear they will be stigmatised, according to human rights advocates, and in cases that are reported conviction rates are extremely low. Protesters galvanised by last week's viral video have demanded faster trials and changes to the way rape cases are prosecuted. An investigation by Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission found that the woman in the viral video, who was attacked in the southeastern district of Noakhali, had been raped repeatedly over time and terrorised. Eight men were arrested after the video emerged. Bangladesh was rocked over the weekend by an unprecedented level of protest. Demonstrators carried signs reading "Hang the rapists" and "No mercy to rapists". In the capital Dhaka, a mock gallows was erected by protesters. Responding directly to the protests, the government decided to make the change by way of an ordinance, since parliament is not sitting - effectively passing it directly into law.