Saudi court ups punishment for gang-rape victim – CNN.com — How does this make any sense to anyone?
A court in Saudi Arabia increased the punishment for a gang-rape victim after her lawyer won an appeal of the sentence for the rapists, the lawyer told CNN.
The 19-year-old victim was sentenced last year to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male, a former friend from whom she was retrieving photographs. The seven rapists, who abducted the pair and raped both, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.
The victim’s attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, contested the rapists’ sentence, contending there is a fatwa, or edict under Islamic law, that considers such crimes Hiraba (sinful violent crime) and the punishment should be death.
“After a year, the preliminary court changed the punishment and made it two to nine years for the defendants,” al-Lahim said of the new decision handed down Wednesday. “However, we were shocked that they also changed the victim’s sentence to be six months in prison and 200 lashes.”
The judges more than doubled the punishment for the victim because of “her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media,” according to a source quoted by Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper.
found by Marc Perkel
You guys remind me of the country that needed generations upon generations of global destruction and pollution to make it to the top of the list of industrialized and economic nations enabling it to become Green. And then demanding – in a holier-than-thou sort of way – that even the poorest of nations be like-wise green.
Ok, I’ll work on that analogy.
RBG
that headline made me laugh
People can rant all they want about the Saudi rape victim but not much will happen. I agree that’s it’s terrible. The fact is though that Saudi Arabia has the world by the “short and curlies” and few countries have the national will (Brazil is an exception) to do anything about it.
Perhaps a combination of Global Warming and new discoveries due to the Human Genome Project will yield altnerative energy that will push Saudi Arabia to the margins. Dr. Ventnor of the Genome Project said that OPEC will be broken by 2020 – it will likely be much sooner.
Once Saudi Arabia is not all that important there’s a chance it could change, but until then don’t even waste your time in protest.
Also, Isreal is only 20% of the problem in with the Middle East (unless you are a Palestinian), the real issue is oil. Just like Communists would tear pages out of history, Capitalists like to ignore them. Politicians like to talk about Isreal since they don’t want to really talk about how inept America has been at becomming energy independent since the 1973 oil embargo.
36 NoahC. I’m not quite as pesimistic as you about this.
Like most countries, the KSA is, believe it or not, especially sensitive to how they are perceived internationally – within the boundaries of Islam, imho.
I was, and still am quite sure the King would intervene in this situation. But the story has just reached a whole new energy level with all the US presidential candidates now being required to give their positions on this one Saudi case.
Now what does the King do without looking like an American toady? I now must guess she will be released by the King on a technicality. It’s more difficult to predict now. I don’t think she will be lashed, however. This from the comfort of my armchair Arabian carpet.
RBG
Fuckers!
I feel so bad knowing that the girl would be whipped like that. Damn piece of shits. Can’t we do something?
I just love all the self righteous people getting outraged at the woman in Saudi Arabia potentially being treated in a barbaric fashion like, let me see, 1) we treated and continue to treat African Americans and migrant workers in the US, 2) those interned at Guantanamo regardless of whether they are innocent or not, 3) women in this country in the workplace that have and are subjected to sexual discrimination and abuse,…… Even though I am personally against what is happening in Saudi, your attitudes and comments irk me even more. Clean your own house first before having an uneducated opinion about everything in this world.
Also, ‘gutter language’ has no place in a public medium which can be accessed by 10 year olds. It shows your uncouth nature and takes away any moral authority to talk about others. BTW, they have been whipping guys for hundreds of years- is this making a difference just because of her sex? Also how about more serious punishment like chopping the hands of thieves, or hanging people in the US that have been found to be innocent due to jury bias or new DNA evidence? You all need more education about the world in which you live in.
well, i really feel sorry for her;because that unfair what they commended of punishment. and I’m frustrated to how they are decided to judged her. i don’t know with which law they judged her with GORAN doesn’t say that. any ways they don’t think deeply they just do whatever bobed in their minds first.
I see that the judge give the victim mercy and the kindness
You can read that and understand
Meanwhile, Dr. Ibrahim Bin Saleh Al-Khedairi. a senior Judge at the Court of Cassation in Riyadh, told Saudi Gazette that he thought the hue and cry in the international media about the Qatif girl’s case was aimed at tarnishing the image of Saudi Arabia and its judiciary.
Dr. Al-Khedairi, who has been in the legal profession for the last three decades, said “the unnecessary fuss created over this case does not help in any way but instead further damages the repudiation of the girl.”
He argued that the court handled the case with mercy and kindness otherwise the judges would have handed down the death penalty for her and the others implicated. Death is the punishment under Shariah for a married woman found to have committed adultery.
Dr. Al-Khedairi said this particular case touches the Kingdom’s sovereignty and thus no country in the world regardless of its weight and status, is allowed to encroach on the Kingdom’s judiciary.
“The Kingdom is a sovereign country ruled by the Divine Book from which its laws are derived,” he said. He stressed that that the United States, Europe and all countries bestow immunity on judges. Some US courts do not allow publicizing of their verdicts, he pointed out.
He said the Qatif girl’s case was seen by courts of different grades and was thoroughly examined by the Supreme Judicial Council, which endorsed the verdicts. “Therefore, what is the reason behind the uproar on this case even though it was subjected to all the legal proceedings applied all over the world?”
“The girl was responsible for this case from A to Z, yet it drew the sympathy of the so-called advocates of human rights who thus defended a fiasco – since all countries which don’t apply the Islamic Shariah also reject immoral acts such as adultery and public prostitution because such crimes lead to the collapse of societies,” Dr. Al-Khedairi said.
SaudiGazette newspaper 27th Nov 2007
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41646&Itemid=1
Can you all just agree that an injustice was done against this woman. Of course there are injustices everywhere all over the world and people all over the world to speak out against evil. A woman being without a related man does not make her guilty of being raped. That is nonsense. Those men took advantage of the law, knowing they could manipulate the system against her and therefore punishing her for something they did to her. There is no justice to that action. Christianity has been around for 7000 years, not just 200. From the time of Adam and Eve in the old testament. God gave counsel from that time forward for right and wrong. It is up to the people of the world to speak out against evil in the world and try to bring human rights to the world. This is just one crime of the government against women, but it stands for all women everywhere, not just this case, and not just women either, but for humanity. Whatever makes you cry out for a better world, do it and let your voice be heard. We all can’t cry out for every crime and every injustice, but let us all do what we can. Can you men in the Muslim world stand up for your sisters, cousins, mothers, grandmothers and neighbors and friends? Why do you allow these laws punish the innocent? You have every right to your religion, but to punish innocent, that is when you hear the world cry out.
It’s funny, I read an article about a woman who was gang raped and PUNISHED for it, and we got someone who blamed it on fundamentalist Christians, someone who blamed it on the Iraq War, someone who blamed it on George Bush, and the rest who completely de-rail the topic and change the subject to American laws. HEAVEN FORBID the men who did this take responsibility for their own actions. All this from people who live in their own fantasy world, trying to bring about a utopian world order that will never come about. Premature pregnancy? Have an abortion! Lost your job? Live off the govenrnment! Don’t worry, it’s not your fault, take the easy way out! You were at an unfair disadvantage brought about by a bunch of white men in suits around a business table! This girl was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. It’s her fault, NO George Bushes fault that she was raped and degraded! Listen, why don’t you use your energy and focus on solutions to problems we can actually solve, not complaining about how messed up the world is, or how much you hate the President of the United States. No one cares anymore. Oh and I’m afraid I have news for all of you drive-by commentators: we treat our immigrants more leniently than almost any other country in the world. Although I’m sure if you did any sort of research on the subject you probably found that out, only to turn around and ignore it because of your blind hatred for George Bush. Good day to you.
I’m gonna be the only one who says “don’t care”. Our laws are just as fucked up as any other country. China executes murders with a AK-47 bullet to the head the same day they are found guilty. Japan does it even worse, you could sit in death row for years, or for a day. They never tell you when its your time In El Salvador, Gang bangers deported from our country are killed by the police when they arrest them on the streets. A CEO in the U.S. Robs the retirement money from the poor to furnish his expensive lifestyle is found guilty, spends a couple of months in club-fed and gets to go back to his multi-million dollar home.
so to conclude,
to those of you that think the sentence is unfair, well, guess what?
LIFE ISN’T FAIR!
basically everything u said is true but china does not use ak 47 to execute its prisoners it uses a pistol, we save the ak 47 ammunition for the invasion of usa
King pardons rape victim
http://tinyurl.com/2lskoe
File this under “I Told You So.”
37. “I was, and still am quite sure the King would intervene in this situation.”
And go to #26 for why I believe this was able to happen.
RBG