cases they have been successful. "Rape marriage" legislation throughout the world "Rape marriage" law, as it is popularly named, has its roots in Roman law about Raptus, and further in Medieval law. Though the laws can be formed in different ways, they all share the characteristic that it ceases persecution in the case of a marriage contract can be provided. Laws of this nature are still practiced in several different countries, such as Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, the Philippines, Syria and Tajikistan. In Iraq, article 398 of the Penal Code No. 111 of 1969 allows the perpetrator of sexual assault to avoid punishment by marrying the woman for at least 3 years. Only if the husband decides to divorce his wife in a period inferior to 3 years would the proceedings for investigation of the sexual assault be undertaken again. In this case, the public prosecutor, the ex-husband, the divorced woman or any person interested in the proceedings is eligible to request an investigation for the events. In Kuwait, Article 182 states that persecution will be dropped in cases of sexual assault if the assailant married the woman, with the permission of a guardian. In Afghanistan, Article 26 was adopted as recent as 2014, which provided a ban on relatives of an accused person to testifying against them. Though this does not specifically effect rape or marriage, there has been cases in which this was the outcome. References Rape in Asia Women in Lebanon Human rights in Lebanon Law of Lebanon 2016 in Lebanon 2017 in Lebanon 2016 in law 2017 in law Women's rights in the Middle East