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Women protest in front of the parliament in Dhaka against violence against women
Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP
After several days of protests, the government of Bangladesh decided to change the law to allow death sentences for rape.
According to a cabinet spokesman, anyone who is convicted of rape will in future be punished with death or life imprisonment.
So far, the maximum rape sentence has been life imprisonment.
Rape video sparked new protests
Activists criticize the fact that perpetrators are rarely convicted and that many crimes are never reported because the victims fear social stigmatization.
The Justice Minister said that a presidential declaration is expected on Tuesday that the new regulation will come into force.
The protests began after a video of sexual abuse circulated on social media.
A group of men had molested a woman in it for over half an hour.
The police have now arrested eight suspects.
Thousands of demonstrators have been calling for tougher sentences for rapists on the streets of Bangladesh in the past few days.
They shouted something like "hang the rapist" and "no mercy for rapists".
Almost 1,000 suspected sexual offenses have been reported in the country this year alone, according to Reuters news agency.
According to the human rights group Ain-o-Salish Kendra, more than a fifth of them were gang rape.
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fek / dpa / AP