Raped in Saudi? 200 Lashes, Woman!!!!!!

looproll · Post by **looproll** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:18 pm

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 were found guilty of the rape and sentenced to prison terms ranging from just under a year to five years.

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.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:26 pm

Saudi Arabia has to be experienced to understand it.

We were working in S.A on three different occasions and stayed at the same hotel each time, from our room windows we could watch the beheadings every Tuesday and Friday morning.

Siddley Hawker · Post by **Siddley Hawker** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:27 pm

I would have thought they'd cut something else off if you had been found guilty of rape in SA.

lilfssister · Post by **lilfssister** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:58 pm

Uhh, did ya miss the point that the WOMAN is guilty of something, SH?

2R · Post by 2R » Fri Nov 16, 2007 8:55 pm

A friend of mine was raped while working there as a teacher and they tried to say it was her fault as well .I thought they might have stopped blamming the victims by now as that was years ago .
A young and handsome young friend of my mums was raped there as well and they blamed him for the rape.It does not matter what sex you are they will blame the victim for the crime.

xsbank · Post by **xsbank** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:48 am

I guess that's why there are no trees in Saudi - too many pilots and the trees have knotholes!

who me ? · Post by **who me ?** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:51 am

Really ? is not Friday their religious day ?
So , you watched these beheadings , every Tuesday and Friday ?
What years are you talking about ?

CAT says, "We were working in S.A on three different occasions and stayed at the same hotel each time, from our room windows we could watch the beheadings every Tuesday and Friday morning."

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:55 am

Really ? is not Friday their religious day ?

What do you mean " Really ? "

So , you watched these beheadings , every Tuesday and Friday ?

You should learn to read " who me," ..... I said we " COULD " watch from our hotel room I did not say we did. One does not need to witness more than one beheading to lose interest in seeing another, one was enough for me.

The hotel we stayed in was the Red Sea Palace and it was only about a hundred yards from the main mosque in Jeddah where they beheaded people on Tuesday and Friday mornings at 10:00 A.M.

Anyone who knows Jeddah would know where " Chop - Chop square " is.

What years are you talking about ?

2000 and 2001, why do you ask?

Are you calling me a liar?

dashx · Post by **dashx** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:02 pm

Asia: Heat of the moment......

Who me? What years are you talking about? Aaaaaah... Which .......ok....

So Cat Driver since you admit to watching one was it on a Tuesday or a Friday?

And since it was only "about 100 yards away" could (and/or did) you hear the chop-chop?

Just morbid curiosity...

Expat · Post by **Expat** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:14 pm

Hello Morbid,

If you want, I will send you the video of the beheading of a kicking guy by a teenager, with a knife. HAVE YOU GOT THE GUTS???

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:15 pm

So Cat Driver since you admit to watching one was it on a Tuesday or a Friday?

Admit?

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:24 pm

Would you like a complete word picture of exactly what a beheading looks like witnessed from around twenty feet??

dashx · Post by **dashx** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 2:20 pm

one was enough for me.

Do I need a thesaurus?

Expat. Enjoy your cognac.

Driving Rain · Post by **Driving Rain** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:16 pm

Do they administer the lashes all at one time or over a period of days.?I'm not sure but I think 50 lashes or so is enough to kill a man.
Poor woman. Saudi Arabia and the backward sons of bitches that rule it is where the US should have gone.

At least in the Cayman Islands when you get the lash they let you put something on your back.

This from my old buddy in San Pedro

So how did you like the Cayman Islands?”“Working over there was one of the most terrible experiences of my life,” Dan Kuka said. “I would never make a mistake like that again.”“I figured the pay would be so good that it would make any little problems disappear,” I said.“Oh, the pay was fabulous,” Dan said. “When Lee Barker and I went over there neither of us had ever made so much money for a job in our lives. The problem is that because of the justice system in the Caymans it just isn’t worth it. Those people haven’t signed any human rights treaties and human rights are what-ever the court decides they are.”“What do you mean?”“Me and Barker and this Mexican guy met at a bar for a few drinks. We each left in our own cars and got caught in a traffic stop three blocks from the bar. The police decided we had all had too much to drink so we had to appear in court the next day.”“I guess that’s pretty scary,” I said.“Scary? You don’t know the half of it,” Dan said. “Without even having a trial the judge said we were all three guilty of drunk driving and would be punished.”“Did they fine you a lot of money?”“No, they didn’t fine us. The judge said we would each get six lashes with the cat, which is a little short whip with nine little rope tails on it. The only concession the judge made was that we had a choice to put anything on our backs that we wanted before they whipped us. Barker went first and he had them spread somethick oil on his back. It still left horrible welts on him.”“My God! That’s terrible.”“Yeah. I’ll say. The Mexican said that he was too much of a man to put any-thing on his back. He could take any pain they could give him and he chose to put nothing on his back. He took six bad lashes but he never blinked an eye. Then it was my turn.”“Did you choose to put something on your back?”“I sure did,” Dan said. “When the judge said, ‘what is your choice?’ I said,‘just put that Mexican on my back.’

who me ? · Post by **who me ?** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:58 pm

Hi CAT,
I simply asked you IF you watched these beheadings, I never stated you did, I am not why certain you seem so defensive?

I was simply asking some questions about a statement you had made. I reason I made the questions was not to accuse you of being a liar, I fail to see where I did that.
I Lived in Jeddah, myself from 1966 to 1968, and then rotated in and out 3 to 4 time per year until 1977. Which if I recall is just after Canada established an Embassy in the Kingdom. I gather it is a very different place now. Back in those days very little went on, on Fridays and beheadings were rare and big news. Hence my questions about all this.
I understand now that there are approx. 50 beheadings per year between the 3 major cities.

Regards ,

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 4:19 pm

Who Me:

No problem, I misunderstood what you meant.

The first week we were in Jeddah the desk clerk asked us if we had seen the beheadings on tuesday morning.

We said no and he said they beheaded six people that morning five men and one woman.

He urged us to walk up the street on Friday morning and see how justice is handed out in the Kingdom, so my FO and I did.

Once was enough, I don't know if they had executions every Tuesday and Friday , but there seemed to be a lot of them....

2R · Post by 2R » Sun Nov 18, 2007 10:29 am

Heard about a book on the radio called 'The War on Women'
Shocking stuff women have five times more chance of being killed than a policeman or soldier .Usually by a spouse.
2500 womens shelters in north america .Seems the shame of female abuse is not limited to the sandbox.

mellow_pilot · Post by **mellow_pilot** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:31 am

11 year old girl killed a 12 year old boy on a Montreal playground last week. I think there's enough violence to go around. It should all be stopped. I really hate the categorization argument.

2R · Post by 2R » Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:05 pm

Children killing each other is the execption rather than the norm .The rates of domestic abuse that have become the norm in north america is shameful .
101 police soldiers and firemen killed in one seven year period in Canada and some 500 women were killed in the same time frame.That is killed not including those that were just beaten and dehumanized by abuse.
I would have thought with women on the supreme court of Canada something would have been done against this shame.

mellow_pilot · Post by **mellow_pilot** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:26 pm

People killing women is not the norm either. I'm just saying that it should all be stopped, why focus on one form of violence? My own personal bias I suppose, but I think that if you're going to be against something like domestic violence, you can't pick and choose what form of it you oppose most. It's kinda an all or nothing game.

But this should be another thread, we're getting away from the psycho whip the rapee mentality of Saudi...

(of course to play devils advocate, she did break Saudi law for getting in the car in the first place, but I really don't think that warrants a 75 lashes... bloody backwater part of the planet.)

2R · Post by 2R » Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:00 pm

Whoops sorry did not mean to hi-jack the thread away from the muddleast sandbox barbarity.Just kinda thinking those without sin cast the first stone although i do not think anyone has been legally stoned to death in Canada .Even with that medicinal dope would not do it unless you were operating farm equipment at the time being stoned might get you killed.but that is not the same as being stoned to death by a legal warrant.
hey i said hi jack and mudddleast in the same sentance.

Do you think the Saudi will finance the next attack on America or are they happy with instabilty they have funded that has put their profits from oil way up .It is almost unstable enough to cause the next super power to take over the middle east and save them from the extremists or whatever excuse the next super power will use .As once oil is super priced it is cheaper to have a war and kill all those people standingh in the way of saving the world

Siddley Hawker · Post by **Siddley Hawker** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:34 pm

Uhh, did ya miss the point that the WOMAN is guilty of something, SH?

The only crime the woman was guilty of was to violate some 14th century law as enforced in a 21st century country. In 2002 seventeen students burned to death in a girl's school in Riyhad. The Saudi religious police refused to let them out of the burning building because they weren't wearing their abayas and headscarves. The only thing the girls were guilty of was going to school that day.

lilfssister · Post by **lilfssister** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:36 pm

OK

Thought you had miissed the guilty by car ride verdict

Siddley Hawker · Post by **Siddley Hawker** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:51 pm

No problem lilfssister. As I said, 14th century laws being enforced in a 21st century country. Disgusting.

2R · Post by 2R » Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:14 pm

Mercy for the merciful .