Saudi gang-rape victim jailed

[Chiloe]

Saudi gang-rape victim jailed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7096814.stm)

An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of lashes and added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.

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.

Saudi gang-rape sentence 'unjust' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7098480.stm)


A lawyer for a gang-rape victim in Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six-months in jail says the punishment contravenes Islamic law.

The woman 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, judges doubled her sentence, saying she had been trying to use the media to influence them.

Her lawyer has been suspended from the case and faces a disciplinary session.

Abdel Rahman al-Lahem told the BBC Arabic Service that the sentence was in violation of Islamic law:

"My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates the pertinent international conventions," he said.

"The judicial bodies should have dealt with this girl as the victim rather than the culprit."

The lawyer also said that his client his will appeal against the decision to increase her punishment.

Segregation laws

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 Qatif 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.


Being a Muslim, I think it's a big injustice done to the girl. If the court doubled the sentence of the girl then they should have given death penalty to the rapists
Asfandyar
Saudi Arabia

Readers react in numbers

The rapists' sentences were also doubled by the court. Correspondents say the sentences were still low considering the rapists could have faced the death penalty.

The rape victim was 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.

'Personal views'

Mr Lahem accused the court of letting personal views influence its decision:

"It seems that the sentence was influenced by the fact that the woman escalated the issue with her lawyer and also with the supreme judicial authorities," he said.

"This is astonishing because justice is supposed to be independent from all pressures as well as personal considerations, be it a feeling towards the lawyer or defendant herself," he added.

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.

Mr Lahem said that the judges' decision to confiscate his license to work and stop him from representing his client is illegal.

[Jedd Corpse]

Heard about this yesterday... This is one aspect of Islamic laws I do not like. As much as it is said that Women are respected, they are still treated like crap compared to men.

Like there was another news story about an Iranian Gang rape victim who stabbed 2 of the 3, the 2 guys that survived got 7 years in prison and she got the death penalty. If it weren't for this bias then the Middle East wouldn't get as much ****.

[Mohmar 'Deathstrike']

That's atrocious!

[indianguy]

Now Saudi Government has released something related to this News .

Saudi government: Rape victim had illegal affair

CNN) -- Under fire for its treatment of a rape victim, the Saudi Arabian government on Saturday said that the woman had an "illegitimate relationship" with a man who was not her husband, and that both "exposed themselves to this heinous crime."

In a statement, the kingdom's Ministry of Justice said it was "forced ... to clarify the role of the woman and the man who was accompanying her in this case and its circumstances" because of what it claimed were false media reports.

The 19-year-old woman was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for meeting with the man -- described by her attorney as a former friend from whom she was retrieving a photograph.

The seven attackers, who abducted the pair and raped her, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in jail.

When the woman appealed her sentence, a Saudi court more than doubled it. The Qatif General Court also increased the sentence for the rapists, to two to nine years in prison.

The case has drawn international attention, provoked outrage in the West and cast light on the treatment of women under Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic law.

The ministry has previously said the woman's punishment was increased after further evidence came to light against her when she appealed her original sentence.

She was convicted of violating the kingdom's Islamic law by not having a male guardian with her.

The attacks took place in March 2006, when the woman was 18 and engaged to be married.

The government statement said that according to the woman's signed confession, she called a man on her cell phone and "asked to be with him alone, illegally." The two met at a marketplace, then rode in the man's car to "a dark area of the beach, and stayed there for some time," the ministry said.

The group of attackers "saw her in a compromising situation, her clothes on the ground," the statement said. "The men at this point assaulted her and the man with her."

The woman knew that being alone with a man who wasn't her husband was illegal, "and therefore she violated the covenant of marriage." However, the woman was engaged -- not married -- at the time.

After the incident, the woman and the man did not come forward about the assaults or press charges until someone contacted the woman's husband "telling him what happened, and about his wife's affair and adultery," the ministry said. "She then confessed ... the husband therefore came forward to the police and formally complained nearly three months after the incident."

The woman and her companion "exposed themselves to this heinous crime, causing the crime to take place because of their violations of the pure Sharia ruling" -- the country's strict Islamic law.

The case was handled through regular court procedures, and the woman, her male companion and the attackers all agreed in court to the initial sentences, the government said in a previous statement.

The woman's husband told CNN earlier this week that "from the onset, my wife was dealt with as a guilty person who committed a crime. She was not given any chance to prove her innocence or describe how she was a victim of multiple brutal rapes."

Asked about the ministry's statement Saturday, the husband declined to comment publicly.

The woman's attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, has said his law license was revoked to punish him for speaking to the Saudi-controlled news media about the case. Attempts by CNN to reach al-Lahim Saturday were unsuccessful.

Al-Lahim previously said the woman met the man at a shopping mall in order to retrieve an innocuous photograph from him. He has also said the man was blackmailing his client and forced her to have the meeting to save her engagement and avoid embarrassment.

The woman's husband did not find out about the crime until his friends told him the rapists were bragging about it in the Qatif community, The Arab News reported in its Sunday editions, citing a source close to the case.

Earlier this week, the woman's husband blamed his wife's treatment on a judge with a personal vendetta. Al-Lahim told CNN that the head judge in the three-judge panel that considered the case was opposed to his client from the beginning. Both said they believe the man forced the woman to meet with him, but said she was not allowed to present that in court.

The government has said that al-Lahim was punished by a disciplinary committee for exhibiting "disrespectful behavior toward the court."

Under Saudi law, women are subject to numerous restrictions, including a strict dress code, a prohibition against driving and a requirement that they get a man's permission to travel or have surgery.

Al-Lahim has been ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing next month at the ministry, where he faces a possible three-year suspension and disbarment, according to Human Rights Watch. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Saad Abedine, Mohammed Jamjoom and Octavia Nasr contributed to this

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/24/saudi.rape/index.html

[IR.IRAN]

just a few weeks ago a group of afghans raped a little iranian girl and video taped it. they were arrested ofcourse and are recieving their punishments.

Rape is just another way of showing the disgraces of some human beings, unfortunetly its some womens fault aswell some times, when they dress very inappropriatley and also know the risks then they are inflicting this on themselves..(like i said, some)

[snc128]

every men may have fantasies about those women who dress inappropriately:wub2:.
but raping instict,is something different and I think,it is an illness needs to be cured.it has nothing to do with the dress of women.

[Chiloe]

just a few weeks ago a group of afghans raped a little iranian girl and video taped it. they were arrested ofcourse and are recieving their punishments.

Rape is just another way of showing the disgraces of some human beings, unfortunetly its some womens fault aswell some times, when they dress very inappropriatley and also know the risks then they are inflicting this on themselves..(like i said, some)

Are you serious??? So if your daughter, your mother or your friend dressed in a skirt, it's their fault they got raped???

OK, in the West plenty of girls wear mini-skirts going out at night to discos, etc. That shouldn't justify in any way a man raping her. No way at all.

[eastman]

A fault of a women, illness? If i sliced a guy for having a nice car or just because he's different than me, so probably it will be his fault as well? :huh3:

[IR.IRAN]

Are you serious??? So if your daughter, your mother or your friend dressed in a skirt, it's their fault they got raped???

OK, in the West plenty of girls wear mini-skirts going out at night to discos, etc. That shouldn't justify in any way a man raping her. No way at all.

like i said, not every woman. But, some women dress very inappropriatley and being dressed with everything out and walking in a dark street is bound to attract a sickos attention.

[mustavaris]

Rape is just another way of showing the disgraces of some human beings, unfortunetly its some womens fault aswell some times, when they dress very inappropriatley and also know the risks then they are inflicting this on themselves..(like i said, some)

I am not sure, but is your point to degrade men to level of animals which cannot control their carnal desires or what?

Yeah, certain behaviour is risky and cannot be called wise but straightforwardly stupid, but in my opinion people who get robbed/mugged on the streets if they walk alone during the night did not cause the robbery/battery, woman who did dress inmodestly did not cause the rape nor a person who does not have security locks in his/her apartment caused a burglary.

It is our duty to make the streets safe. And criminals alone have the burden of guilt. The victim of crime gets too much of punishment from the crime alone.

[Chiloe]

Are you serious??? So if your daughter, your mother or your friend dressed in a skirt, it's their fault they got raped???

OK, in the West plenty of girls wear mini-skirts going out at night to discos, etc. That shouldn't justify in any way a man raping her. No way at all.

like i said, not every woman. But, some women dress very inappropriatley and being dressed with everything out and walking in a dark street is bound to attract a sickos attention.

Well many women dress like that, in the West anyway. I don't think it would make much difference to these sickos who purposefully pick the woman out on their own and pre-emptively jump out and rape them. It is not the woman's fault because rape should not happen in the first place. If one sees a woman in a skirt it should not make them want to rape them. The thought should never even go through the mind. If it does, than that person is a sexual predator anyway.

I'm not sure what you meant by your post by the way...do you mean the crime is less evil as it was the woman's fault for dressing in such a way? Because thats what happened here in Saudi Arabia. The men would normally get MUCH tougher sentences. Even death. Rape is a horrible, horrible, absolutely horrific crime that can NEVER be justified in any way.

[VillageWolf]

chiloe said,,, "Well many women dress like that, in the West anyway. I don't think it would make much difference to these sickos who purposefully pick the woman out on their own and pre-emptively jump out and rape them.

I agree 100%. You should very much want to have sex with hot girls, but not
force them to do it. In that case you use the date-rape drug!!!:xmas_emot3:

[Vladimir80]

I agree 100%. You should very much want to have sex with hot girls, but not
force them to do it. In that case you use the date-rape drug!!!:xmas_emot3:

That was in rather poor taste... :err1:

[VillageWolf]

Sorry, sarcasm is hard to translate.

[Plato]

Na it was just retarded.

[Mohmar 'Deathstrike']

Well many women dress like that, in the West anyway. I don't think it would make much difference to these sickos who purposefully pick the woman out on their own and pre-emptively jump out and rape them. It is not the woman's fault because rape should not happen in the first place. If one sees a woman in a skirt it should not make them want to rape them. The thought should never even go through the mind. If it does, than that person is a sexual predator anyway.

I'm not sure what you meant by your post by the way...do you mean the crime is less evil as it was the woman's fault for dressing in such a way? Because thats what happened here in Saudi Arabia. The men would normally get MUCH tougher sentences. Even death. Rape is a horrible, horrible, absolutely horrific crime that can NEVER be justified in any way.But I think it's likely that a rapist would more likely go for a visibly hot woman than for one wrapped up in a burqa for instance.

I am not sure, but is your point to degrade men to level of animals which cannot control their carnal desires or what?

Yeah, certain behaviour is risky and cannot be called wise but straightforwardly stupid, but in my opinion people who get robbed/mugged on the streets if they walk alone during the night did not cause the robbery/battery, woman who did dress inmodestly did not cause the rape nor a person who does not have security locks in his/her apartment caused a burglary.

It is our duty to make the streets safe. And criminals alone have the burden of guilt. The victim of crime gets too much of punishment from the crime alone.Yes, ideally, your freedom to dress however you like should be guaranteed, but if you're aware that in some areas of town this isn't the case, you should take precautions.

[Amir]

They should hang these sick bastards.

I wonder what woud Saudi court say if the woman was Sunni and rapists were from Qatif area ?

[RH53D_AMCM]

AMEER: Now, that would be an interesting question to be answered...

[azrael]

Rape is the action of psychologically damaged individuals, purchasing prostitutes is the action of a socially inept individual and marriage is the action of fools. Suffice it to say, rapists should be hung until death, after they receive the proper amount of flogging from the relatives of the victim. Is there ever a reason to rape a woman or child? No, a woman or child could walk down the street naked it is not an invitation to be violated, the action of a proper man of the shia in such a circumstance is to avert your eyes and offer your coat, if perhaps the glimpse you saw was appealing asking for an email wouldn't be too inappropriate(only of the woman not of the child), but have the tact to chat her up first.

Again , no excuse or justification for rape under shia law, the standard punishment has been and always will be death. Recall that the saudi's are khajarite scum, their wahabi cult is an insult to islam and should not be considered an example of islam.

[Mujahid786]

this is not how islam treats women this is age old sudi tribal customs, the real islam would have had the attackers executed and the women sent to a womens group for healing (lol)

[Sajjad]

this is not how islam treats women this is age old sudi tribal customs, the real islam would have had the attackers executed and the women sent to a womens group for healing (lol)

Adultery is haram and punishable by death.

Rape is haram and punishable by death. Everyone involved would be executed, since she was alone with another man. (Having an affair? Most likely.)

[Blue Bloater]

Adultery is haram and punishable by death.

Rape is haram and punishable by death. Everyone involved would be executed, since she was alone with another man. (Having an affair? Most likely.)

I have to disagree. Nowhere in the Qu'ran does it say adultery is punishable by death.

[azrael]

since she was alone with another man. (Having an affair? Most likely.)

She was attempting to recover a photograph of herself, which according to the ghazi was an "innocent" photo. Jumping to conclusions and prejudging a woman without knowing all the facts is un-islamic.

[Sajjad]

I have to disagree. Nowhere in the Qu'ran does it say adultery is punishable by death.

Do not act like the Qur'an is the last resort of all answers, it is not. Most of the answers can be found in Qur'an, this is true.

[Sajjad]

She was attempting to recover a photograph of herself, which according to the ghazi was an "innocent" photo. Jumping to conclusions and prejudging a woman without knowing all the facts is un-islamic.

Were you there?

[azrael]

Were you there?

No , but she was...

The Saudi Justice Ministry has launched a deliberate "campaign of defamation" against the girl, said Farida Deif, a Middle East expert with Human Rights Watch, who is among the few independent observers to have met the girl. "They are saying she is not really a victim," Ms Deif said. "They are implying she was an adulteress. They are saying she was undressed before the attackers entered her car."

The Independent has obtained testimony in which the girl describes her attack, the struggle to get the police to take action and the harrowing court appearances that followed.

Her ordeal began with a telephone call: "I had a relationship with someone on the phone," she recounted to Human Rights Watch. "We were both 16. I had never seen him before. I just knew his voice. He started to threaten me, and I got afraid. He threatened to tell my family about the relationship. Because of the threats and fear, I agreed to give him a photo of myself."

A few months later, she said, after she had been married to another man, she became concerned that the photograph might be misused and asked the boy to return it. He accepted on the condition that she would meet him and go for a drive with him. She agreed, reluctantly, to meet the boy at a nearby market. They were driving towards her home when a second car stopped in front of them, she said. "I told the individual with me not to open the door, but he did. He let them come in. I screamed."

She and her companion were taken to a secluded spot where they were both raped, many times. "They forced me out of the car," the girl said. "They pushed me really hard. I yelled out, 'Where are you taking me? I'm like your sister.' They took me to a dark place. Then two men came in. The first man with the knife raped me. I was destroyed. If I tried to escape, I don't even know where I would go. I tried to force them off but I couldn't. In my heart, I didn't even feel anything after that. I spent two hours begging them to take me home."

The second man then raped her, then a third. "There was a lot of violence," she said. In the hours that followed her attackers told the girl they knew she was married. She was raped by a fourth man and then a fifth. "The fifth one took a photo of me like this. I tried to cover my face but they didn't let me."

Despite the prosecution's requests for the maximum penalty for the rapists, the Qatif court sentenced four of them to between one and five years in prison and between 80 and 1,000 lashes. They were convicted of kidnapping, apparently because prosecutors could not prove rape. The images recorded on the mobile phone were presented in court, according to her lawyer, but the judges ignored them.

Her ordeal continued after the fifth rape. Two more men, one with his face covered entered the room and raped her. She repeatedly asked what time it was and was told 1am. Afterwards all seven men came back and the girl was raped again.

"Then they took me home. They drove me in their car. They took my mobile and said that if I wanted it back, I would have to call them. They saw my husband's photo in my wallet when they were searching through my things. When I got out of the car, I couldn't even walk. I rang the doorbell and my mother opened the door. She said, 'You look tired'. She thought I was with my husband. I didn't eat for one week after that. Just water. I didn't tell anyone. I can't sleep without pills. I used to see their faces in my sleep."

Under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of sharia law, women are not allowed in public in the company of men other than their male relatives. Also, women in Saudi Arabia are often sentenced to flogging and even death for adultery and other perceived crimes.

In addition to these intimidating barriers facing the victim in a country with possibly the worst women's rights record in the world, the girl was also a member of the persecuted Shia minority and her attackers were Sunni. This sectarian divide would be crucial to what happened next.

"The criminals started talking about it [the rape] in my neighbourhood. They thought my husband would divorce me. They wanted to ruin my reputation. I was trying to fix something by getting the photo back and something worse happened."

Irfan Al-Alawi, a Saudi academic and expert on religious persecution in the Kingdom, said that the sectarian background was crucial to understanding the crime.

"Qatif is a centre of the large Shia minority in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The so-called religious police or mutawiyin, who are brutal in any case, were also acting here in support of Sunni domination over the Shia in Qatif."

Against her attackers' expectations, the girl's husband did not divorce her when news of the attack reached him; instead he sought justice through the courts.

Her husband recalls the frustration of seeing his wife's attackers walking free. "Two of the criminals were walking around in our neighbourhood right in front of me. They attended funerals and weddings. They [the police] should have arrested them out of respect for us. I called the police and told them, 'Find me a solution. The criminals are out on the street. What if they try to kidnap her again?' The police officer said, 'You go find them and investigate'."

He did just that and telephoned the police on four occasions before action was eventually taken. But when the case did come to court the girl's ordeal continued.

She said: "They [the judges] said to me, 'What kind of relationship did you have with this individual? Why did you leave the house? Do you know these men?' They used to yell at me. They were insulting. The judge refused to allow my husband in the room with me. One judge told me I was a liar because I didn't remember the dates well. They kept saying, 'Why did you leave the house? Why didn't you tell your husband?'

"At the second session, they called me in from the waiting room. I went in with my husband. They sentenced some of them to five years, others to three. I thought these people shouldn't even live. I thought they would get a minimum of 20 years. I prayed that they wouldn't even live. Then he said, '[name withheld], you get 90 lashes. You should thank God that you're not in prison'. I asked why and he said, 'You know why. Because it's khilwa hair sharan [mingling begets evil]'. Everyone looks at me as if I'm wrong. I couldn't even continue my studies. I wanted to die."

The ordeal is still not over. The Qatif girl and her husband face an intensely uncertain future. She has been attacked by her brother, who reportedly tried to kill her. Her lawyer, Al-Lahem, believes she may now be pursued by Sunni extremists through the sharia courts.

Her appalling treatment was summed up in one exchange between her husband and the judges at the first sentencing. "It was like she was the criminal," he remembered. "When the judges passed down the sentence, I asked them, 'Don't you have any dignity?'"

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article3207728.ece

[Blue Bloater]

Do not act like the Qur'an is the last resort of all answers, it is not. Most of the answers can be found in Qur'an, this is true.

(Say), "Am I to desire someone other than Allah as a judge when it is He Who has sent down the Book to you clarifying everything?" Those We have given the Book know that it has been sent down from your Lord with truth, so on no account be among the doubters.
(Surat al-An'am: 114)

"We have sent down the Book to you making all things clear and as guidance and mercy and good news for the Muslims" (Surat an-Nahl: 89).

[Sajjad]

No , but she was...



http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article3207728.ece

Very well, but don't be too gullible in the future. Anybody can make something up.

[Sajjad]

(Say), "Am I to desire someone other than Allah as a judge when it is He Who has sent down the Book to you clarifying everything?" Those We have given the Book know that it has been sent down from your Lord with truth, so on no account be among the doubters.
(Surat al-An'am: 114)

"We have sent down the Book to you making all things clear and as guidance and mercy and good news for the Muslims" (Surat an-Nahl: 89).

You seem to completely alienate hadith by the Prophet (pbuh) and the Imams (pbut).

[Blue Bloater]

You seem to completely alienate hadith by the Prophet (pbuh) and the Imams (pbut).

I follow the Prophet's example by embracing his Message. But to each his own belief. We're all Muslims in the end.

[azrael]

Very well, but don't be too gullible in the future. Anybody can make something up.


I will accept many things are possible, but that a young married muslim girl would willingly have sex with several strangers over the course of several hours is not one of them. And i very much doubt that the young muslim man accused of being with her would also want to have sex, on the receiving end, from those same strangers. And if she were such a woman, i would have a hard time believing that her husband would stand by her as he does, that man is to be commended as a true muslim. But allow us to accept the words of the saudi rulers as true for the sake of argument, let us accept just for a minute what these powerful and rich so called kings say is true about this poor defenceless child. Nothing changes, not even a whore deserves to be raped, and not even a whore is below god's laws and his merciful protection. If you believe yourself to be muslim then you would discover this by reading the quran, if you wish to try to be like ali then you would know this in every cell of your body: god's law is supreme and universal, it does not discriminate, it does not have frontiers and it has no expiration date. Rape is punishable by death, regardless of the class, color or faith of the victim, regardless of the power, wealth or creed of the attacker.

[kasaeed]

Oh man, these Saudis, they only punished her she was shia. These Saudi judges should be hanged. :(

[Chiloe]

Rape is haram and punishable by death. Everyone involved would be executed, since she was alone with another man. (Having an affair? Most likely.)

So if a woman gets raped she should be executed???

Say if your mother was walking down a street minding their own business and a man jumps out and brutally rapes her...would you then say she has to be executed??? Its not her fault. Why should she be punished?

since she was alone with another man. (Having an affair? Most likely.)
So if a woman is raped, this is what to automatically presume?! Can women not have the freedom to be with other men? This is sexism at its worst, Sajjad! Saying this indicates to me you see men as better than women and that you think the rape wasn't as evil because she, a woman, was on her own with another man.

Though I generally support Islamic countries in politics, etc, these are the kind of deluded beliefs that can give Islam a bad name.