Bush Saudi friends to beat, imprison rape *victim*
A 19 year old Saudi Arabian young woman who was kidnapped and gang raped will suffer 200 lashes as well as 6 months in jail ... because when she was raped, she was with a man *who was not a relative.*
Originally the Shiite Muslim teenager was supposed to receive 90 lashes because she broke Saudi Arabia's Islamic law that requires separation of men and women. You would not recognize who she is because women are not permitted to show their faces or bodies in Saudi Arabia.
But the Saudi General Court upped her sentence because her lawyer challenged the sentence, appealing their verdict, and she is accused of speaking to someone in the media about the case.
"For whoever has an objection on verdicts issued, the system allows an appeal without resorting to the media," reads the Saudi General Court official statement.
All seven men who raped her and beat the unrelated man she was with are also going to spend some time in jail, their original sentences also doubled, but the length of their incarceration is not known.
In keeping with the Bush administration's support of Saudi Arabia, a State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack did not criticize the Saudis, but is quoted as saying the victim's sentence "causes a fair degree of surprise and astonishment." He also notes, however, that "It is within the power of the Saudi government to take a look at the verdict and change it."
While the US administration may be surprised and astonished, other governments are outraged, calling the situation barbaric and are livid that the victim of violent sexual abuse is going to be beaten and imprisoned.
The result will be that women will not report rape in Saudi Arabia for fear she will also be beaten and imprisoned. Which of course means that rapists won't be identified, caught or punished for raping Islamic women there.
These Saudi friends are the same people to whom the US is selling billions of dollars of state of the art weapons; the majority of terrorists who attacked the US on 9-11 were Saudis, Saudis are financing those fighting the US in Iraq, and many Saudis are in fact inside Iraq, fighting US forces.
I've always wondered why the Bush administration is so upset with the help Iran is providing those fighting the US in Iraq when the Saudi assistance to insurgents financially and with personnel has overshadowed the Iranian participation by far.
These are the questions I wish reporters would ask the President at his press conferences, especially when gas prices are expected to reach $4.00/gal within the next few months thanks to our problems with the Middle East, in which our Saudi "friends" don't seem to be able to help us out and that is apparently OK with the Bush administration.
If you would like to share your opinion with the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the US, here's the contact info:
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20037
Tel.: 202-342-3800
Fax: 202-944-3140
Meanwhile, I should add that it is just in Saudi Arabia that women have such repressive "laws" by which they are supposed to live: they cannot be in the company of a man who is not a relative; the cannot drive a vehicle, they cannot vote, they are not to show their face or body, and they cannot hold a job.
Other Muslim nations "permit" women to do most of these things. Islamic law is interpreted and enforced differently in each Muslim nation.
Originally the Shiite Muslim teenager was supposed to receive 90 lashes because she broke Saudi Arabia's Islamic law that requires separation of men and women. You would not recognize who she is because women are not permitted to show their faces or bodies in Saudi Arabia.
But the Saudi General Court upped her sentence because her lawyer challenged the sentence, appealing their verdict, and she is accused of speaking to someone in the media about the case.
"For whoever has an objection on verdicts issued, the system allows an appeal without resorting to the media," reads the Saudi General Court official statement.
All seven men who raped her and beat the unrelated man she was with are also going to spend some time in jail, their original sentences also doubled, but the length of their incarceration is not known.
In keeping with the Bush administration's support of Saudi Arabia, a State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack did not criticize the Saudis, but is quoted as saying the victim's sentence "causes a fair degree of surprise and astonishment." He also notes, however, that "It is within the power of the Saudi government to take a look at the verdict and change it."
While the US administration may be surprised and astonished, other governments are outraged, calling the situation barbaric and are livid that the victim of violent sexual abuse is going to be beaten and imprisoned.
The result will be that women will not report rape in Saudi Arabia for fear she will also be beaten and imprisoned. Which of course means that rapists won't be identified, caught or punished for raping Islamic women there.
These Saudi friends are the same people to whom the US is selling billions of dollars of state of the art weapons; the majority of terrorists who attacked the US on 9-11 were Saudis, Saudis are financing those fighting the US in Iraq, and many Saudis are in fact inside Iraq, fighting US forces.
I've always wondered why the Bush administration is so upset with the help Iran is providing those fighting the US in Iraq when the Saudi assistance to insurgents financially and with personnel has overshadowed the Iranian participation by far.
These are the questions I wish reporters would ask the President at his press conferences, especially when gas prices are expected to reach $4.00/gal within the next few months thanks to our problems with the Middle East, in which our Saudi "friends" don't seem to be able to help us out and that is apparently OK with the Bush administration.
If you would like to share your opinion with the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the US, here's the contact info:
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20037
Tel.: 202-342-3800
Fax: 202-944-3140
Meanwhile, I should add that it is just in Saudi Arabia that women have such repressive "laws" by which they are supposed to live: they cannot be in the company of a man who is not a relative; the cannot drive a vehicle, they cannot vote, they are not to show their face or body, and they cannot hold a job.
Other Muslim nations "permit" women to do most of these things. Islamic law is interpreted and enforced differently in each Muslim nation.
Labels: Bush administration, Islamic law, Muslim nations, Saudi Arabian rape victim to be imprisoned and beaten, Saudi women cannot be in the company of a man not her relative or she is breaking the law
posted by cp @ 8:56 AM
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