BBC News
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.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7096814.stm
This is completely idiotic and unacceptable. Is this an example of justice in Islamic Law? Obviously Saudi Arabia has no regard for women's rights, hell human rights. I feel ill.
6 comments:
Not to make you more ill, but the relationship the Bush family has with the Saudis is beyond belief. The US turns a blind eye to this type of treatment.
You probably were familiar with this from Farenheit 9/11, but a good dialogue can be found here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2103239/entry/2103433/
Yeah, it is an abysmal state of affairs. It is sad too that this is often the perception of women's rights in Islam that is broadcast around the world. The role and rights of women in Muslim countries and in Islam as a whole is a huge debate and one that is poorly understood in the West. There is actually an interesting debate going on between Western and Muslim feminists. Western feminists make the arguments that Islam subjugates women by relegating to the home, making them dependent on male relatives, and forcing them to wear veils, etc. Muslim feminists counter that they want nothing to do with Western-styled feminism because it is a fraud and does nothing to "liberate" women. Rather, they argue, western capitalist states exploit and degrade women by turning them into to sexualized commodities and denigrating their role in the home. The criticism is pointed more directly to western feminists that measure a woman's success by her degree of independence for home and family and success in business, etc.
Now, none of this excuses inhumane laws in many Islamic states. What bothers me about stories like this (in addition to the abuse itself) is the image that it promotes. This behavior is not the norm in Muslim countries. Nor is the West immune from it. The sad thing is, of course, that it happens at all, but another problematic aspect is how this issue is used for political purposes. Our government frequently uses the rhetoric of human rights against countries like Iran, but we fail to apply the same standards to our strategic allies like Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
It does not matter that this is not the "norm" in Muslim countries. The fact that it happens AT ALL and with regularity is unacceptable and disgusting. Not just there but anywhere. The way in which women are viewed in that culture is - I'm sorry - in no way flattering. The way they are viewed in most organized religions is not much better. It's all pretty much disgusting.
Sick Muslims and ever Sicker Christians. Dig on your own garden first.
First off, if you are too much of a coward to put a name with your post, don't throw stones. Especially when you just post a random ridiculous comment without support or even logical thought behind it.
Secondly, no one who has published a comment on this topic is "Christian" to my knowledge. Why don't you ask before you assume?
Do some homework or shut the fuck up :-)
I second that emotion, Pope. Fundamentalist zealots of any faith offend me equally.
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