19-Year-old Gang Rape Victim
to
Receive 200 Lashes and 6
Months in Jail in Saudi Arabia
A Saudi Arabian woman must be accompanied by a
male guardian — typically relative — at all times in public. The rape victim
violated this law by meeting a friend to retrieve a picture.
A 19-year-old gang rape victim was sentenced to 200 lashes and to six months in jail for the crime of indecency and speaking to the press.
By, The Clarion Project | h/t to Jennifer L. Kopp
Saudi Arabia defended a controversial verdict sentencing a
19-year-old gang rape victim to 200 lashes and six months in jail. The Shi’ite
Muslim woman had initially been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicted of
violating Saudi Arabia’s rigid Islamic Sharia law on segregation of the sexes.
The decision handed
down by the Saudi General Court more than doubled her sentence last week. The
court also roughly doubled the prison sentences for the seven men convicted of
raping her, Saudi media said.
The upholding of a
decision to punish the victim triggered international outcry.
Canada said it would
complain to Saudi authorities about the sentence, described as “barbaric”’ by
Jose Verger, the Canadian minister responsible for the status of women.
The New York based
Human Rights Watch said the verdict “not only sends victims of sexual violence
the message that they should not press charges, but in effect offers protection
and impunity to the perpetrators.”
While not directly
criticizing the Saudi Arabia’s judiciary, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said, “I think when you look at the crime and the fact that now the
victim is punished, I think that causes a fair degree of surprise and
astonishment. It is within the power of the Saudi government to take a look at
the verdict and change it.”
However, the Saudi
judiciary stood by its decision. “The Ministry of Justice welcomes constructive
criticism, away from emotions,” it said in a statement.
The statement also
said that the “charges were proven” against the woman for having been in a car
with a strange male, and repeated criticism of her lawyer for talking
“defiantly” about the judicial system, saying “it has shown ignorance.”
The woman’s lawyer,
Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, reached out to the media. The court has since banned him
from further defending the woman, confiscating his license and summoning him to
a disciplinary hearing later this month.
The justice ministry
implied the victim’s sentence was increased because she had spoken out to the
press. “For whoever has an objection on verdicts issued, the system allows to
appeal without resorting to the media,” said the statement carried on the official
Saudi Press Agency.
The rape took place in
2006. The victim said it occurred as she tried to retrieve her picture from a
male high school student she used to know.
While in a car with
the student, two men got into the vehicle and drove them to a secluded area.
She said she was raped there by seven men, three of whom also attacked her
friend.
The case was referred
back to the General Court by an appeals court last summer, after the woman’s
lawyer contested the initial verdict, saying it was too lenient for the rapists
and unjust for the victim.
Editorial
Footnote: It was just brought to my attention that the male friend of the
female in this occurrence was also raped and he received the same punishment as
she did.
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