Saudi Rape Victim Gets 200 Lashes

Court Says 19-Year-Old Woman Improperly Used Media To Influence Case

(CBS/AP)  A Saudi court sentenced a woman who had been gang raped to six months in jail and 200 lashes - more than doubling her initial penalty for being in the car of a man who was not a relative, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The decision by the Qatif General Court came in a case that had sparked rare debate about the kingdom's justice system when it surfaced more than a year ago.

In its decision Wednesday, the court also roughly doubled prison sentences for the seven men convicted of raping the 19-year-old woman, the Arab News reported on its English-language Web site.

According to Arab News, the court said the woman's punishment was increased because of "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media."

The New York Times reported that her lawyer, Abdulrahman al-Lahem, is a well-known human rights activist who angered the court by publicly criticizing the verdict. He said the verdict was too lenient for the rapists and unjust for the victim.

The victim had initially been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicting her of violating Saudi's rigid laws on segregation of the sexes.

Under Saudi Arabia's interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, women are not allowed in public in the company of men other than their male relatives.

The court also banned her lawyer from defending her, confiscated his license to practice law and summoned him to a disciplinary hearing later this month.

The initial sentences for the men convicted of the gang rape ranged from 10 months to five years in prison. Their new sentences range from two to nine years, the paper said.

The attack took place in 2006. The woman has said that it occurred as she tried to retrieve her picture from a male high school student she used to know. While in the 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.

Reports of the story triggered debate about Saudi Arabia's legal system, in which judges have wide discretion in punishing a criminal, rules of evidence are shaky and sometimes no defense lawyers are present. The result, critics say, are sentences left to the whim of judges.

The judges, appointed by the king, have a wide discretion in handing down sentences, often said to depend on their whim. A rapist, for instance, could receive anywhere from a light or no sentence, to death.

The woman was identified in the media only as the Girl from Qatif. The case was referred back to the General Court by an appeals court last summer, after her lawyer went public with his criticism of the verdict.

The only thing that good for nothing country has is OIL. We as a nation should boycot their OIL and everything else.

[aardvark99]

May a thousand women rape the judge.

IamPundit you''re a sick b@stard.....

[extremophil]

Baaaaaad girl, baad baad girl!

[newsreader57]

My God, that country is way weird.

[Floys64]

so you people think your being done wromg by the court system here. how would you like to be in his girls shoes. 200 lashes for being raped by seven guys. what kind of justice is that

[afmca]

Hey, this is the country Bush would love to emulate. The rich are immoral, greedy, and in total control while the rest of society is overseen by a bunch of hypocritical male religious zealots. Maybe Bush could push for a Consitutional amendment that would allow 500 lashes for abortion doctors and 200 for the women who get one. God would his base love him even more for his compassion.

[creeper00]

Unbelievable. Saudi Arabia treats women as chattel. Fifteen of the nineteen 9-11 hijackers were Saudis. And we attacked IRAQ???

Well, of course we did. We couldn''t be retaliating against a country run by George W. Bush''s good buddies, now could we?

Sickening.

[Floys64]

in response to mitchoncbs then write your congressmen and senators to allow drilling for oil in our own country. then we would not be dependent on those jerks for anything. sooner or later it has to be done. so why all the whining and boohooing. GETTER DONE

[jetlizhan]

dumbest judicial system i''ve every heard - this country is w-a-a-a-a-ay back in the stone age.

[glaswolf]

"He said the verdict was too lenient for the rapists and unjust for the victim." Be careful what you pray for: "banned her lawyer from defending her, confiscated his license to practice law and summoned him to a disciplinary hearing" ... Now I supposed nonSaudis argued right''s to contest Saudis processes, forgetting that rights are granted by armies ... not gods. She got into a car for a picture, was she accustomed to getting into cars with unrelated men? What was on the picture that her boyfriend had which would make her risk rape and whipping? Was the friend tried... did these two associate with this click sent to prison. Diviation from parental paths should only occur at the directions of the parents for an evolutionary learning curve of functional slope. Those born in sharia should die in sharia, by treaty. Though immigrants from sharia must accommodate our laws, disregard for sharia violates oaths as citizens for political refugees. Their women must cater to a restricted spirit of sharia which is allowable under our law. A woman using our laws to undermine sharia restricted to the ways of America cannot possibly be a political refugee. Escaping rigid systems to participate in systems allowing more diversion of views is assimilationist, which she could do anywhere and is grounds for deportation beyond the great ponds.

[poopbreath]

Saudia Arabia is where 15 of the 19 suicide bombers who attacked the WTC came from. This truth reveals the hypocrisy of the war in Iraq. Bush has said that Hussein had NOTHING to do with 9/11. Ron Paul has the only sane solution for the war in Iraq. Vote Ron Paul for President.

[Con Mohrat]

If one asks "them", they will tell you their laws and religious customs are to honour and protect all women. Now they will honour and protect this lady 200 times.

[mediabrat60]

Wow, jail time and lashings for being a victim of rape.
Why can''t they see that the rape was punishment enough?
My God, this is beyond sickening.

[excoachken]

Not surpising at all considering that almost all the 9/11 attackers came from this same uncivilized country. The only real surprize is that our government accepts this and that "W" and Cheyney keep telling us, blaming Iran and Iraq for the attack. Human rights will have to wait for American leaders who are not delusional business partners of such an evil country and afraid of supporting "justice for all" regardless of their ***.

[rowdytexan2]

And you wonder why Cheney has all but moved Halliburton to Saudi Arabia? Here''s a really good example of his stance on human rights. Take a really good look!

[Con Mohrat]

lefty in texas wrote:
" Just remember this...Saudi Arabia is bush''''s BEST friend and supporter. Two peas in a pod ...as the saying goes. Can any one in their right mind imagine having a terrorist nation like Saudi Arabia as a friend and ally? bush can! "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see a Saudi Prince has one up on Bush''s Air Force One plane. He is buying an especially modified new AirBus A380, which takes twice as many passengers as the 747. Bush would like one but he put the country trillions of $ in the hole.

[gunshack1]

Makes you proud to have allies like Saudia Arabia doesn''t it.

[samrensho]

Shrub and Shooter can only dream of such a judiciary and legal system.

[crater7]

LETS SEE HOW QUICK THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CONDEMS THE SAUDI''S FOR THE ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

JUST LIKE BUSH''S FAVORITE TRADE NATION, CHINA, THERE WILL BE NO COMMENT FROM THIS ADMINISTRATION, AND IT WILL TURN A BLIND EYE, DEATH EAR, TO THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

ALL HAIL THE KING............

[agarwal1]

Watch the beating of women in Arabia on live video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY
jQpFAGUrQ

[ericdobbs]

Barbarians.

[jeepmanjr]

Wow...These people failed to follow the laws/rules of their country and somehow Bush gets dragged into it. Is this the only place Demo''s hang out? And WTH does OUR government have to do with it anyway?

Simple, cut & dried sort of life wouldn''t you say? You do that, you pay. And unlike our "civilized" society, they have the cajones to enforce it as opposed to tying up the legal system and spending thousands, if not millions, of our tax dollars trying to find a loop hole (a la OJ for instance).

Stop worrying about everyone else in the world (kinda like the advise you Demo''s give Bush) and start taking care of yourselves. Hey now, that would be a step in the right direction - even for a liberal!

[ciscis1]

What do you expect from mooslims, they are a bunch of animals, with ''laws'' that treat women like animals, and a so-called religion that demands that non-mooslims be exterminated so that the male mooslim pigs can have their ''virgins'' in their afterlife. They probably believe in raping their virgins in their ''heaven'' as well, and oh...guess what the virgins in their ''heaven'' get... 200 lashes after the pigs rape her. On second thought, I wouldn''t want to insult any animal by comparing them to these vermin.

[gunownerdan]

Who cares if China and Saudi Arabia are brutal totalitarian dictatorships, they have cheap oil and cheap consumer products that we Americans totally can''t survive without. We just love exxon/mobil and wal mart and so does Saudi Arabia and China!
It''s like one big happy a$$raping of America.

[nolalou]

IamPundit,

You have posted the same message several times! I have no desire to watch videos of beatings! Do you get some perverse pleasure from those videos?

[wolf563]

A freekin camel has more rights than a woman over there .

[gmond]

Stop calling the Saudis animals. Animals are barbaric by nature, not choice.

[dogsoul]

...barbarians is right - do you people expect there to be ANY long term progress in the fight against Islamic terror when THIS is the kind of society from which these animals come? 9/11 & many other terrorist acts have proven that neither appeasement nor isolation will protect us from these freaks - they require a fundamental surge in progess on many fronts - and bringing Democracy to the heart of the Middle East is what Iraq is all about... If America can defeat Islamic radicalism and it''s liberal allies, we might have a chance at bringing that region of the world into the 21st - or at least 19th century....

[dogsoul]

"Different cultures have different ways. What we see as barbaric, they see as enforcing their rules and laws. An idea that perhaps we should adopt."

Whatever... don''t give me that liberal ''everything is relative'' ***... by THAT definition anything & everything is defendable as fair game so long as it exists within the context of ''your culture'' - what''s funny is that my guess is that you''d probably go to all kinds of lengths to condemn whatever it is that America has done or does... but punishing a gang rape victim with 200 lashes & six months in jail is somehow their cultural birthright...

[CBSTV]

Saudi Arabia is one of several Middle Eastern countries that have cultures centered upon depravity. Whippings, beheadings and hangings are common forms of "punishment" there.

[finewoven]

Different cultures have different ways. What we see as barbaric, they see as enforcing their rules and laws. An idea that perhaps we should adopt.
Posted by matvei1107 at 10:07 AM : Nov 16, 2007

Brilliant idea, NOT. This part of the world is considered the cradle of civilization, at least closer to Iraq. How is this civilized? Blaming the victim is not a cultural opinion, and this punishment of the victim is wrong.

If American politics requires us to financially support their cultural identity in this way, then we have learned nothing from supporting the Taliban, building a Soccer Stadium for them to use to stone women for their own sadistic cultural norms--all the men laughing and applauding. Even if any woman voluntarily commits adultery, Christian values do not support her death sentence. And if American money supports this, then we are partially to blame for this grave error of against humanity.

[finewoven]

Whatever... don''''t give me that liberal ''''everything is relative'''' ***... by THAT definition anything & everything is defendable as fair game so long as it exists within the context of ''''your culture''''Posted by dogsoul at 10:11 AM : Nov 16, 2007

F/uck your liberal reference, what is wrong is wrong--Conservatives could learn alot from that if they could admit their mistakes.

[watcher269-2009]

Wow, where''s the US Human Rights sanctions for this. Oh yeah, I forgot, we''re punishing them by purchasing their OIL! That''ll teach them!

If only we can give the same sentence to Cheney and Bush.

[differnet]

"Different cultures have different ways. What we see as barbaric, they see as enforcing their rules and laws. An idea that perhaps we should adopt."
Posted by matvei1107 at 10:07 AM : Nov 16, 2007


Let me guess. You are male. Since most of the barbaric laws fall on women, only a man cannot see this as sexual discrimination and brutality. You put it down to "cultural differences." When in reality it is the systemactic and legal suppression and subjegation of women.

[harp1963]

We had our chance to attack the real enemy when fifteen of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudi nationals who received U.S. visas in Saudi Arabia, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. These men were professionally trained, not by some guy in a cave either.

It''s hard to imagine just how warped a society of people would have to be to punish a women with jail and 200 lashes for being gang raped.

We should have seized the opportunity when we had the chance to attack the real source of terrorist attacks on America. The only problem is they would have fought us with all the military equipment we sell to them. The military industries in America that make billions off of equipment sales to cash cow Saudi Arabia would never let their puppet George do that.

By the way America, not one of the hijackers was from Iraq. Those lies were fueled by our President.


The whole thing turned out to be a win win situation for the military industries of America. They get to keep supplying Saudi Arabia with military hardware, and, then on top of that, they get to supply our troops in Iraq with unbid government contracts that channel trillions of taxpayer dollars to them.

[dogsoul]

"Sounds a little like the battle cry of the Crusades."

Actually, it sounds nothing like the battle cry of the crusades my ignorant friend... I won''t bother detailing this as it''s too obvious... but I would suggest you read a little on the topic before publicizing your stupidity...

[johnny343sc]

"Islam is crying..." is what the interpreter told me in Iraq when I went there as an American soldier.

It''s crying because it''s leaders are still stuck in the 12th Century AD as Islam''s greatest period in hopes of bringing that era back where the West was a backwater mudhole and the world was ruled from Baghdad.

It''s crying because Islam cannot understand why non-Islamic people don''t look upon it as being a positive influence or a "good, progressive and forward" religion.

The worst thing for Islam''s public relations with other cultures was the 9/11 attacks. Islam''s actions on intolerance of religion and women''s rights doesn''t help this either.

There is hope, though: A select, intrepid few within Islam know their society''s concept of religion and their religious leaders must change in order to interract within a 21st century society.

Power to them, for like Christ... his revolution against the Roman establishment was a quiet one at first. So too will theirs that truly believe in all the good Islam -can- be.

"But, sir... Islam is crying. Don''t you see?" is what the interpreter told me.

I''ll never forget that as long as I live.

;)

[finewoven]

Who cares if China and Saudi Arabia are brutal totalitarian dictatorships, they have cheap oil and cheap consumer products that we Americans totally can''''t survive without.
Posted by gunownerdan at 10:01 AM : Nov 16, 2007

Or we refuse to survive without. This argument came up quite a bit in the late 1980s, as it pertained to Edward Deming''s succes in Japan--after being rejected by his American constituents. The theory of quality management was eschewed by Detroit and many other industires, and allowed overseas competitors to developed business practices that overshadowed American innovations. Today, we are living the repurcussions of this folly, in that we insist on not pursuing better, cleaner technologies, but instead fight any change for the better. California, I hear, is sueing the EPA to initiate clearer exhause standards. But to your point, we can survive without cheap products from China, and Oil from the Middle East, if we would accept our own American know-how for doing so.

[dogsoul]

"Wow, where''''s the US Human Rights sanctions for this. Oh yeah, I forgot, we''''re punishing them by purchasing their OIL! That''''ll teach them!"

Ah yes... then where ARE we going to buy our oil genius? Oh, I forgot... oil is bad - guess what moron - here in the real world... we have to factor those kinds of things...

liberals - it''s like they were raised in amusement parks....

[agarwal1]

See bush pushing a 11 year old from his lap... caught on tape!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjQpFAGUrQ

[dmhphils]

Sounds like Hell to me!

[dogsoul]

"Sure they may be terrible and very male centered, but they have rules. Over there, if you break the rules, you get punished. Over here, the justice system is more like a joke. Is that better?"

Dear Nimrod:

What good is swift & strict enforcement of rules - when the rules are an outrage of injustice? That''s like giving a rapist credit for getting his pants off quickly...

[gregintally]

While some cultural practices are relative (for example, eating with others from a large plate, using only your fingers)that does not mean that every practice is ethically equivalent. We have different beliefs and customs, but we all share a desire to avoid suffering and to seek happiness; in this, we are all the same. Therefore, it is often very simple to assess the relative usefulness of cultural practices: are they beneficial? Do they tend to increase the well-being of the members of the culture? Do these practices conform to our innate sense of fairness? Would we agree, in this case, that our daughter should be whipped, after being raped and humiliated? I doubt it. As an ethical maximum, it is hard to improve upon the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

[shortyinmo]

Lets all be honest for a change. Regardless of your left or right swing, blaming the victim is just wrong! This is exactly the type of thing Saddam did to his people, except you never heard about it or I should say no one took intrest in it until the war started.

Women are treated as lower class citizens in MANY middle eastern countries that met out these types of punishments.

Of course the US needs to stop supporting them but what can you do when everyone complains that drilling here will hurt the enviroment and then they still want to drive their vehicles all over town.( Should we even still continue to feed the N. Koreans that want to build bombs and blow us up? NO)

The US military is being used as the world police, we help everyone over every cause yet they continue to hate us, and the people that don''t want us in any type of war are the ones that whine the most about injustices in other places. They want out of Iraq, but they want to go into the Sudan? Whats the diff?

Sanction the Saudis, for sure, don''t buy their oil but then don''t whine about gas prices going up or about drilling for our own resources here so we as a country are not dependent on these idiots!

[finewoven]

Sure they may be terrible and very male centered, but they have rules.
Posted by matvei1107 at 10:25 AM : Nov 16, 2007

I would think that herein lies the point of the crusades reference. For instance, Islamic fundamentalism claims superiority over other faiths and religions, but let''s examine this. Check through all of the Saints of the Christian Church, perhaps Catholic mostly, and you''ll find many many women. Check through Islam, and you won''t find hardly any women--because they are all men.

So if this is misogynic, that women cannot drive cars, are not to be treated in hospitals, must be in a separate part of their mosque, or simply cannot be looked at in public--it simply isn''t a human trait that I find to add to the quality of life.

[notblue]

The left in this country critisize and denagrate America''s efforts against these Muslim Califates and theocracies that if left unchallenged would impose this type of law on all of us. It is time to wake up to the reality of what we are fighting and aht we are fighting for.

[realpatriot1]

dogsoul,

Yes, we need to factor in the reality that we need to buy our oil somewhere. The question that liberals have for conservatives is, at what point do we factor in the realization that we also have to very quickly and forcefully make the transition to alternative forms of energy? Not only to free ourselves from the forign policy entanglements it entails but also for the good of our economy and environment.

Republicans love to bash Jimmy Carter for a variety of reasons(some legitimate, a different discussion) but if we had truly heeded his call 25 years ago to look upon the energy crisis as the moral equivalent of war we would not have the severity of these problems today.

One way or another we''re going to have to because the global supply is limited and the demand too great.

It''s ok to bash Carter and Gore but it''s not ok to deny the message and continue to ask, where do we get our energy when the oil runs out and where do we live when the planet is no longer habitable?

[dogsoul]

"It''''s crying because it''''s leaders are still stuck in the 12th Century AD as Islam''''s greatest period in hopes of bringing that era back where the West was a backwater mudhole and the world was ruled from Baghdad. "

This was a great post... and absolutely true - especially the radical Muslims are taught & reinforced to obsess over a period in history when they went around literally raping and pillaging as much of the world as possible - of course, all in the name of Allah. Now conquest certainly wasn''t unique to Muslims although they were especially brutal about it. And whereas Eurpoeans can sort of study history & at least recognize many of the wrongs of conquest, colonialism, slavery etc... Muslims celibrate that period as their greatest hour & long for it to return... What''s funny is that while their entire existence is spent whining about, if not blowing themselves UP over, the crusades or how Israel stole their land (or at least stole it BACK from them) or how the West is meddling in their affairs etc... they desperately want to do 5 times that to everyone else - but you see... THEY''RE annointed, in fact commanded, by Allah to do so....

[dogband]

And the good ole USA is deeply in an 8th century bed with these guys? Holy ***.