"The Saudi justice minister expressed his regret about the media reports over the role of the women in this case which put out false information and wrongly defend her," said the statement. "The charged girl is a married woman who confessed to having an affair with the man she was caught with."
In 2006 “The girl from Qatif”, a 19-year-old Shiite Saudi, had met a high school friend in his car to retrieve a picture of herself from him. While in a car with him, two men got into the vehicle and drove them to a secluded area where others waited, and then she and her companion were both raped. She was sentenced to prison and 90 lashes for being alone with a man not related to her, and when her lawyer, Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, appealed the sentence, he was removed from the case, his license suspended and the penalty doubled to 200.
The increase in sentence received heavy coverage by the international media and prompted expressions of astonishment and utter outrage. The Justice Ministry maintained, however, that the ruling was legal and followed the "the book of God and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad," noting that she had "confessed to doing what God has forbidden." The ministry added that the woman and her husband were "convinced on the verdict and agreed to it."
The Justice Ministry's account of the incident differed substantially from that given by the woman and her lawyer and largely glosses over her rape by seven men, focusing instead on her plan to meet her lover for tryst in his car "in a dark place where they stayed for a while." "Then they were spotted by the other defendants as the woman was in an indecent condition as she had tossed away her clothes, then the assault occurred on her and the man," the statement added.
Under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, women are not allowed in public in the company of men other than their male relatives. Also, women in Saudi Arabia are often sentenced to flogging for adultery and other crimes. The seven men convicted of raping the woman were given prison sentences of two to nine years. The initial sentences for the men convicted of the gang rape ranged from 10 months to five years in prison
What can you do but wonder why Saudi Arabia is not a pariah state (Oil and arms sales may answer that question) . As for shared values mentioned by our PM? There are some allies we can do without.
15 comments:
Why, indeed, are they not regarded as a pariah state? It makes me sick when I see our gov creeping to them. what about the incident when schoolgirls died there in a fire because the "religious" police would not allow them to escape the flames as they were not in full Islamic dress?
It makes me utterly sick too welshcakes.
Welshcakes, you took the words out of my mouth. The school fire incident horrified me beyond belief. That was an evil thing for the police to do. I sometimes think the West would sell its collective soul for a barrel of oil.
As much as a barrel, Siani? I agree with you both. The school incident was disgusting beyond belief
Reading all these responses from Saudi Arabia makes me think they live in Bizzaro world. As if this woman having an affair would justify their sentence and make all this criticism go away! Some ranking cleric must have been surprised that such an admission didn’t relieve them of responsibility.
Another story of muslim brutality to their women to make my blood pressure rise.
I'm surprised the fellows didn't get off scot free, well I wouldn't have been.
well, we sold our country for a barrel of oil- how much more can we sell out? unbelievable.
Jams
This is a serious problem. A country that does not respect all of its citizens can not be expected to respect treaties with others.
The problem with the far left is that many close their eyes to Islam. Pat Robertson makes a ghastly comment about gays and the left goes into over drive. The left ignores Saudi Arabia and Iran's execution of gays. The left also ignored Cuba's abuse of gays in its vaunted medical system. Homosexuality was treated as a mental illness. The left ignores Mugabe's mistreatment of gays.
The sad truth is that the only sane
solution is civil law. This is yet another example of why a theocratic
based legal system does not work.
I just can't get my head around the mindset Roland. I somehow doubt that the girl freely agreed that her sentence was correct.
The willingness of some to apply cultual relativity makes me mad jmb.It is a brutal and barbaric sentence.
I wonder how far Betmo.
Unfortunately you are right to a fair degree Beakerin. Too many on the left have indeed turned a blind eye turned to abuses. It is far from universal though.
I am thrashing about trying to get up the courage to let our oil tank run out simply because I resent being beholden to the likes of the Saudi.
I am also wedded to our current vehicle - but that will be self limiting as my eyes are likely to fail soon enough.
I won't get into what I think of the British government...
A.
In the absence of another fuel source, what can you do Aileni? Are you on Achill?
We are in Donegal.
We are all set up to use electricity except for hot water.
The solution might seem expensive but we get an allowance of 400 free units which tips the balance away from the steadily increasing price of oil.
Doh, Achill's further south! My uncle is my closest relative still in Ireland. He does get rather better benefits than he would if he lived here
Poor girl! I am glad that it is not like that here in Dubai. This is also a Muslim country but there was never a momentI felt a minority for being a female.
It's a very different mindset in Dubai isn't it? If it is looking to develop its tourist industry
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