Arabic version: نائب من حزب الخضر يعتذر عن تصريحات بشأن الاغتصاب

According to BBC News, newly elected Scottish Green MSP Q Manivannan has apologised for hurt caused by podcast comments referring to the “demonisation” of rape and describing rape as a “spectrum of things”. The remarks were recorded last year, before Manivannan was elected to the Scottish Parliament in May, and resurfaced online at the weekend.

During The Subjective Space podcast, Manivannan was discussing care, carers and the rehabilitation of criminals when host Sindhu Rajasekaran said she could have no empathy for rapists. Manivannan referred to a “myth of the monster rapist” and said that any individual was capable of rape. They also said the idea of a rapist as a “big burly man” was understandably a source of fear.

The Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance, representing four rape crisis centres, said there was “no hierarchy of rape” and warned against minimising sexual violence. In an open letter, it said the effects of rape can last a lifetime and that the crime should not be reduced to a theoretical debate. It urged politicians not to normalise rape or sexual violence, or create “hierarchies of harm”.

Scotland’s Children’s Minister Siobhan Brown described the words as misjudged. Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats were also critical, while the Scottish Conservatives called on the Scottish Greens to suspend Manivannan. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, said on X that rape should never be spoken about as a spectrum.

In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, Manivannan said clips had been selectively and “maliciously” edited, omitting their assertion that every rape in every context is equally serious and harmful. They apologised for the distress caused and said they would never seek to diminish a survivor’s experience. Manivannan, who said they are a survivor of sexual violence, added that words matter when discussing sexual violence and said they regretted the hurt caused.