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Sunday 18 November 2007

Saudi justice?

A Saudi woman and man were both gang raped by seven Saudi men, what would a suitable punishment be? It happening in Saudi Arabia, the punishment is partly in the form of lashes, 90 lashes apiece. However it happening Saudi Arabia, the 90 lashes apiece were handed down to the two victims of the gang rape. Yes, you read that right; the victims were each given a 90 lash punishment, in fact the poor Saudi woman who was gang raped 14 times has had her punishment increased to 200 lashes and six months in prison for trying to use the media to influence proceedings.

Why were the two victims given such a punishment, what heinous crime had they committed? According to The Telegraph "The sentence against the 19-year-old Shia woman from Qatif, in the Eastern Province of the country, was passed because she was in the car of a man who was not a relative at the time of the attack, which contravened strict Saudi laws on segregation...Her offence was in meeting a former boyfriend, whom she had asked to return pictures he had of her because she was about to marry another man. The couple was sitting in a car when a group of seven Sunni men kidnapped them and raped them both, lawyers in the case told Arab News."

The rapists, they were given terms of between 10 months and 5 years in prison.


Is this what the Foreign Office minister Kim Howells thinks are our "shared values" with Saudi Arabia?

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