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November 17, 2007
Saudi Arabia: More Muslim Injustice
On November 2, 2006, German news agency Deutsche-Presse Agentur reported on the case of a young Saudi woman who had been on the receiving end of a multiple gang rape.
Four of her attackers faced a Saudi court and were sentenced to jail sentences ranging from one to five years accompanied by lashes, ranging from 80 to 1,000 lashes. A fifth man who apparently took photographs with his mobile phone was facing investigation, and two other men had escaped capture.
What was most shocking was the fact that the (then aged 18) woman victim was also sentenced to 90 lashes.
Her "crime" had been to commit "khalwat" - she had been alone in a car with a man who was not her husband. While they were in the car, the pair had been abducted and taken to a remote farm, where the woman was raped.
Now, news comes from Arab News and the Daily Telegraph on what has since happened to the woman.
There has been an appeal hearing at the General Court at Qatif in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The woman's lawyer, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, had called for an appeal as he felt that the sentence against his client was too harsh, and those for the rapists too lenient.
Though the rapists' sentences have been increased to between two years and nine years' each, the verdict against the rape victim has been that she should now have her lashes increased to 200. Additionally, she must now be imprisoned for six months.
Her lawyer has also been punished. Judge Soliman Al-Muhanna from the Qatif court suspended him from the case, and confiscated his lawyers' license. He has now been summonsed by the Judicial Investigation Department of the Ministry of Justice to attend a disciplinary hearing.
He claimed: "Actually this is the second time they have contacted me. They claim that I advertise my services and that that is against Saudi law."
The rape victim was told by the judges at the General Court that her sentence had been increased because of "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media."
Obviously, as the media had reported on the case, it exposed an abuse of justice that the Saudi judiciary would rather happen in secret. And this is the same Saudi Arabia that recently lectured the European Union about "human rights".
The reason why the woman was alone in a car with a man was because he was her former boyfriend. They had arranged to meet as he was to hand over pictures he had of her. She had been due to marry another man. The woman was Shia - her rapists Sunni.
Lawyer Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem said: "My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates the pertinent international conventions. The judicial bodies should have dealt with this girl as the victim rather than the culprit. The court blamed the girl for being alone with unrelated men, but it should have taken the humane view that it cannot be considered her fault."
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 17, 2007 8:21 AM
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