Saudis Defend Punishment for Rape Victims
The Saudi judiciary on Tuesday defended a court verdict that sentenced a 19-year-old victim of a gang rape to six months in jail and 200 lashes because she was with an unrelated male when they were attacked.
The Shiite Muslim woman had initially been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicted of violating Saudi Arabia’s rigid Islamic law requiring segregation of the sexes.
But in considering her appeal of the verdict, the Saudi General Court increased the punishment. It also roughly doubled prison sentences for the seven men convicted of raping the woman, Saudi news media said last week.
The reports triggered an international outcry over the Saudis punishing the victim of a terrible crime.
But the Ministry of Justice stood by the verdict Tuesday, saying that “charges were proven” against the woman for having been in a car with a man who was not her relative.
The ministry implied the victim’s sentence was increased because she spoke out to the press…
Not to worry, though; the US, intent on liberating oppressed people living under fundamentalist tyranny and punishing the country that produced 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers, attacked Saudi Arabia and overthrew its…
Oh, never mind.
