Saudi punishes gang rape victim with 200 lashes

[ravdin]

It makes me sick to my stomach that we're "allies" with these people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_mideast_afp/saudiwomenrightsjustice_071115145104

 

[This Guy]

Somewhere there is a thread that came out back when this story first broke. Before the retrial.

It was outrageous then. It's even more so now

ETA:Found it - http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=2404981#post2404981

I think this is the same story, just updated in your version

 

[Darth Rotor]

It makes me sick to my stomach that we're "allies" with these people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_mideast_afp/saudiwomenrightsjustice_071115145104

I think we are "oillies" with the Saudis.

If it weren't so sad for the woman, I'd find it funny that the initial 90 lashes was more than doubled to 200 because she wasn't a good little submissive, but complained about it. It's almost as though this came from a script in a farce, performed on stage.

Trouble is, 200 lashes is nothing to laugh about.

It is good to see them report that the men involved are being jailed for their part in this crime.

DR

 

[BPSCG]

I find mind-boggling the idea that someone could even survive 200 lashes. Wouldn't that flay all the skin off one's back?

What a horrid, filthy country.

 

[Puppycow]

But in a new verdict issued after Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council ordered a retrial, the court in the eastern town of Al-Qatif more than doubled the number of lashes to 200.

A court source told the English-language Arab News that the judges had decided to punish the woman further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media."

So it's a crime to complain to the media?

BTW, why was she in a car with unrelated males? Because they forcibly abducted her?

But don't you dare call it Islamofascism! Using that word makes you a bigot!

 

[fuelair]

It makes me sick to my stomach that we're "allies" with these people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_mideast_afp/saudiwomenrightsjustice_071115145104

Basically a bunch of primitive pig porkers (you know what I really mean). I am more and more thinking glassing is a great idea for them.

 

[kerikiwi]

BTW, why was she in a car with unrelated males? Because they forcibly abducted her?

Mad laws. Mad punishments. Aren't those bad enough?
Do we need to misrepresent the facts? Do we know whether she was in the car because she was abducted, or for another reason initially?
She was not sentenced for being a rape victim. She was sentenced because she broke a mad law.

 

[Puppycow]

Mad laws. Mad punishments. Aren't those bad enough?
Do we need to misrepresent the facts? Do we know whether she was in the car because she was abducted, or for another reason initially?
She was not sentenced for being a rape victim. She was sentenced because she broke a mad law.

Is asking a question misrepresenting facts? IOW, did she willingly break that mad law, or was it a consequence of being abducted?

 

[Puppycow]

A consequence of course is to deter rape victims from reporting the crime.
The deck is stacked in favor of the rapist(s).

 

[Zep]

I find mind-boggling the idea that someone could even survive 200 lashes. Wouldn't that flay all the skin off one's back?

Depends on the flogger and the tool used. If it is a light cane applied moderately, it will leave deep bruising but not be permanent. A heavy cane laid on hard will break bones, etc. So 200 such strokes could permanently incapacitate or even kill.

What a horrid, filthy country.

No, what a horrid, filthy, barbaric, 13th century MIND-SET is in control there.

But the very same horrid, filthy, barbaric, 13th century mind-set, employing similar punishment and often much worse, exists in many other places in the world today. As I'm sure you know, Beeps. So on that basis, you should be hating half the world even more than you hate Saudi Arabia. Agreed?

There are really bad people everywhere. This particular case just happen to get on Yahoo more readily.

 

[BPSCG]

So on that basis, you should be hating half the world even more than you hate Saudi Arabia. Agreed?

No.

Here is an excerpt from Freedom House's 2007 ratings of countries' relative freedoms. Rating of 1.0 is the highest "free" ranking (stunningly, after seven years of supposed neofascist Bushism, the U.S. is still in the top rank), and 7.0 the lowest "not free" ranking. Here's the bottom of the pile:

6.5
Belarus
China
Cote d’Ivoire
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Laos
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Zimbabwe

7.0
Burma
Cuba
Libya
North Korea
Somalia
Sudan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

So there are only 16 countries as bad as, or worse than, Saudi Arabia. Not "half the world," as you so carelessly put it.

 

[Janot]

BTW, why was she in a car with unrelated males?

In no way wanting to support the barbaric sentence handed down to this woman, reading between the lines I guessed she might have been a prostitute, and this explains her being in the car.

 

[erlando]

In no way wanting to support the barbaric sentence handed down to this woman, reading between the lines I guessed she might have been a prostitute, and this explains her being in the car.

"being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape" (emphasis mine)

The rape took place in the car...?

If I remember correctly Saudi Arabia has capital punisment for prositution. Death by stoning.

 

[bluess]

In no way wanting to support the barbaric sentence handed down to this woman, reading between the lines I guessed she might have been a prostitute, and this explains her being in the car.

WHAT?

 

[BPSCG]

In no way wanting to support the barbaric sentence handed down to this woman, reading between the lines I guessed she might have been a prostitute, and this explains her being in the car.

I suspect that if she were truly a prostitute, the men wouldn't have been convicted of raping her.

 

[Dumbledore]

In no way wanting to support the barbaric sentence handed down to this woman, reading between the lines I guessed she might have been a prostitute, and this explains her being in the car.

And what exactly made you come to this magical conclusion?!!!

The real problem in Saudi Arabia is that the Islamic fundamentalists are in charge, yes it does definitely get worse than the Christan fundamentalists we have here, and these Islamic fundamentalists can do what ever they pretty much want to. It is hearting to know that our own government has done so much to keep them in power, mostly because it fits our foreign policy needs!

 

[Darth Rotor]

I suspect that if she were truly a prostitute, the men wouldn't have been convicted of raping her.

A true prostitute? Intriguing thought.

Are you suggesting she'd need to wear a kilt under her chador in order to save them the trouble of charges? Hmmmm. I wonder if kilt sales are on the upswing in Saudi these days.

DR

 

[Darth Rotor]

The real problem in Saudi Arabia is that the Islamic fundamentalists are in charge, yes it does definitely get worse than the Christan fundamentalists we have here, and these Islamic fundamentalists can do what ever they pretty much want to. It is hearting to know that our own government has done so much to keep them in power, mostly because it fits our foreign poorly considered energy policy needs!

There, fixed it for ya.

For what it's worth, the King and the Saud royal family, is in charge. Given the alliance between King and Imam, the King is somewhat constrained socially and culturally in any reform movement by his need to appease the fundamentalists. Of course, the odds of breaking that marriage are slim. There's not much arm twisting going on. Given the patriarchical model the Wahabbists subscribe to, it's great to be the king.

According to Western observers like Gilles Kepel, Wahhabism gained considerable influence in the Muslim world following a tripling in the price of oil in the mid-1970s. Having the world's largest reserves of oil but a relatively small population, Saudi Arabia was in a position to spend tens of billions of dollars throughout the Muslim world promoting Islam, and in particular Wahhabism, which was sometimes referred to as "petro-Islam

It isn't just foreign policy that makes this a problem, it's the standard oil addiction. That's a matter of personal habits, and a by product of the industrial age. We are hooked.

DR

 

[Janot]

And what exactly made you come to this magical conclusion?!!!

Hang on, I didn't come to any conclusion - the details of the case were missing, and I was trying to join up the dots. The sentence handed down is obscene - so obscene that perhaps there was an unstated reason why the woman was in the car in the first place, a reason which did her no favours in court.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Hang on, I didn't come to any conclusion - the details of the case were missing, and I was trying to join up the dots. The sentence handed down is obscene - so obscene that perhaps there was an unstated reason why the woman was in the car in the first place, a reason which did her no favours in court.

In the link provided, one of the reasons given for her harsher sentence, 200, up from 90, was her complaining to the media about her original conviction and punishment. I am trying to figure out how a charge of prostitution would have escaped the notice of the reporter. Could happen, I suppose.

DR