A judge has given an Afghan man a lighter-than-usual sentence for raping an 18 year-old girl to avoid the man losing his refugee residency status. The normal sentence is 24 months in prison but the man was given only 20 months because the judge said that the suspect was from an unsafe country and wanted to start a family with his wife who had also come to the Netherlands. A harsher sentence would have ‘far-reaching legal consequences for his status in the Netherlands’, he said. MPs have said they want clarity on the guidelines in such cases and will ask the justice minister for an explanation.