NEW YORK, May 17: Four men who had stood their ground to support victimised women in their communities, including Pakistani rape victim Dr Shazia’s husband were honoured at a gala ceremony organised by the New York-based women’s rights organisation “Equality Now”.

The event “On the Road to Equality: Honouring Men on the Front Lines” was held at the Symphony Hall where Dr Shazia and her husband Amanulah Khalid were special guests and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff introduced them.

Applauding Mr Khalid, Mr Kristoff noted that he had given up his engineering job in Liyba to be with his wife and resisted family pressures to divorce her. He called Ms Shazia a brave woman for fighting to get justice, instead of committing suicide.

The men honoured were Kenneth Franzblau (USA), Oscar Maynez (Mexico), Zebene Negash (Ethiopia) and Amnaullah Khalid.