Rape Victim in Saudi Gets SENTENCED

[NiX]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_o...saudi_rape

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The Saudi judiciary on Tuesday defended a court verdict that sentenced a 19-year-old victim of a gang rape to six months in jail and 200 lashes because she was with an unrelated male when they were attacked.


The Shiite Muslim woman had initially been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicted of violating Saudi Arabia's rigid Islamic law requiring segregation of the sexes.

But in considering her appeal of the verdict, the Saudi General Court increased the punishment. It also roughly doubled prison sentences for the seven men convicted of raping the woman, Saudi news media said last week.

The reports triggered an international outcry over the Saudis punishing the victim of a terrible crime.

But the Ministry of Justice stood by the verdict Tuesday, saying that "charges were proven" against the woman for having been in a car with a man who was not her relative.

The ministry implied the victim's sentence was increased because she spoke out to the press. "For whoever has an objection on verdicts issued, the system allows an appeal without resorting to the media," said the statement, which was carried on the official Saudi Press Agency.

The attack occurred in 2006. The victim says she was in a car with a male student she used to know trying to retrieve a picture of her. She says two men got into the car and drove them to a secluded area where she was raped by seven men. Her friend also was assaulted.

Justice in Saudi Arabia is administered by a system of religious courts according to the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Judges have wide discretion in punishing criminals, rules of evidence are vague and sometimes no defense lawyer is present. The result, critics say, are sentences left to the whim of judges. A rapist, for instance, could receive anywhere from a light sentence to death.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack avoided directly criticizing the Saudi judiciary over the case, but said the verdict "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," McCormack said.

Canada's minister for women's issues, Jose Verger, has called the sentence "barbaric."

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."

From what I understood, yes, the rapists got sentenced. But the rape victim received a separate sentence too because when the incident happened, she was with a man that was not her relative.

[Grim]

It's always hard to comment on something you have little knowledge/experience of, in this case religion.

But yeah, what's definitely wrong here is upping the woman's punishment to something undeserved just because she "spoke out to the press."

---

This bring me to think though, when is saying "no comment" on something just for the sake of avoiding conflict bad? I mean people suffer under systems which are bordering on wrong, and yet the majority continue to be quiet under the guise of "it's not my place to judge" or "I don't know enough to say something"?

[NiX]

If it's in their law to punish rapists, and the rapists got punished, then fine.

If it's in their law to punish women for being with men that are not related to them, and she got punished, then fine.

But yeah, why increase the woman's punishment simply because she went public about it? -_-

Meh. Justice is always relative.

[R.Leonhardt]

what the hell is wrong with going out with a friend of different sex?? Am I gonna get sentenced too????!!!!! To tell you the truth I have more Friends that are girls than that of the boys...But I ain't gay.. or am I..?

[NiX]

Hey r.leonhardt, since you're in mindanao, don't you have any muslim friends? maybe you can give us a better perspective on this. Or maybe even wanzerfreak if he swings by.

When I was a kid, a muslim family lived next door. One of them was a guy that was around 4 years older than me. I went to their house often to play and they really gave me a good impression of muslim people. So yeah, I'm not prejudiced against muslims in any way. But what happened in that article above is just sad.

Having more female friends than male friends doesn't make you gay. In my college block, there were 19 girls and only 7 boys. And by the time we graduated, there were only 3 boys left. LOL

[R.Leonhardt]

Muslims aren't that bad,except that they get jealous easily of stuffs.
like last time in a beach,I brought my custom jetski to play around. At the same time in another corner,there're muslims playing with their jets as well. Mine is custom so it's a little faster. After a race,we won,a guy got mad and said we shouldn't play around there because there might be an accident. Feh,accident my butt,we're just a kph faster <_<

But some of my best friends are muslims,they're cool.

Btw,females are fun to be with lol,they might look at me as a gay but lol,that ain't the case. Most of them sleep at our house,they seem to trust me.....But maybe not as a guy... -_-

[NiX]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/2...index.html

Here's the follow-up report: " Saudi government: Rape victim had illegal affair" from CNN.com

[Grim]

Even the lawyer gets it, huh. The additional evidence of the woman's affair isn't even connected to the punishment for the attorney. This seems like just a nice long follow through on their judgment now. Kumbaga nandun na eh, so tinuloy tuloy nalang.

[Goat]

One of the reasons why I believe some religions bring hatred. Sheesh.

But...



Possibly Related Thread? Why? lol

[NiX]

ah lol probably because I mentioned Wanzer in my third post.

[strawhat_luffy]

O_O I hope it's either that or cause both topic titles have "victim" in them

[wanzerfreak]

"Muslims aren't that bad,except that they get jealous easily of stuffs.
like last time in a beach,I brought my custom jetski to play around. At the same time in another corner,there're muslims playing with their jets as well. Mine is custom so it's a little faster. After a race,we won,a guy got mad and said we shouldn't play around there because there might be an accident. Feh,accident my butt,we're just a kph faster <_<

But some of my best friends are muslims,they're cool."

no no no no no.

religion has nothing to do with the other kids being jealous with you, son.

[Grim]

no no no no no.

religion has nothing to do with the other kids being jealous with you, son.

RATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!

It's over. )