Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed

[sabadgeman]

Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed
By Frances Harrison
BBC News

An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of lashes and added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.

The victim was initially punished for violating laws on segregation of the sexes - she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the attack.

When she appealed, the judges said she had been attempting to use the media to influence them.

The attackers' sentences - originally of up to five years - were doubled.

Extra penalties

According to the Arab News newspaper, the 19-year-old woman, who is from Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, was gang-raped 14 times in an attack in the eastern province a year-and-a-half ago.

Seven men from the majority Sunni community were found guilty of the rape and sentenced to prison terms ranging from just under a year to five years.

But the victim was also punished for violating Saudi Arabia's laws on segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating with each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the car of a strange man.

On appeal, the Arab News reported that the punishment was not reduced but increased to 200 lashes and a six-month prison sentence.

The rapists also had their prison terms doubled. But the sentences are still low considering they could have faced the death penalty.

The Arab News quoted an official as saying the judges had decided to punish the girl for trying to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media.

The victim's lawyer was suspended from the case, has had his licence to work confiscated, and faces a disciplinary session.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed

MY OWN COMMENT
This is the kind of justice those who wish an Islamic state want? What utter rubbish is this that a religion blames a woman for being raped and punishes her with a public whipping?

[Betty Boop]

In Islamic culture it seems that men are not expected to control their passions nor are they expected by Allah to be responsible for their own behaviors. A Muslim woman is covered from head to toe because her appearance causes the man to sin - to lust. There is no internalized sense of moral sensibility or expectation, it seems. I really have no use for Muslims of this sort in my life nor in my country. That may not be the PC thing to say - but it is my honest feeling.

[satin_patriot]

Agreed, Betty.

[Woodmonkey]

Lets hope she isn't pregnant. She's the victim here and should receive no punishment.

[Snowden]

Well, it was a year and a half ago, so apparently she didn't get pregnant -- or this would have been resolved long ago. But the lashes will probably kill her; they don't make them light strikes.

What is curious is that the men are being punished at all. It took four men testifying against them for them to be tried, let alone convicted and punished. Five years, no doubt with time off for good behavior, down the road a bit.