In Saudi Arabia, a court's decision to increase the sentence of a young woman rape survivor, from 90 to 200 lashes, has created an international public outcry. Apparently, the judicial system sees the woman as the culprit rather than the victim.

A 19-year old woman who was gang-raped in 2006 had spoken out in public about her case and her efforts to seek justice. As a result, however, on November 14, 2007, the General Court of Qatif in Saudi Arabia increased its sentence of lashing. Her lawyer was also harassed and banned from the case. Her lawyer's professional license was also confiscated.

An official at the court said that the court had increased the woman’s sentence because of “her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media.” In October 2006, the woman was sentenced with a punishment of 90 lashes. Recently, the court released a new decision, sentencing her to six months imprisonment and 200 lashes.

“A courageous young woman faces lashing and prison for speaking out about her efforts to find justice. This verdict not only sends victims of sexual violence the message that they should not press charges, but in effect offers protection and impunity to the perpetrators,” said Farida Deif, researcher in the women’s rights division of Human Rights Watch.

The woman, who is married, said she had met with a male acquaintance who had promised to give her back an old photograph of herself. After she met her acquaintance in his car in Qatif, a gang of seven men then attacked and raped both of them, multiple times. The Qatif court sentenced four of the attackers to between one and five years in prison and between 80 and 1,000 lashes, despite the prosecution’s requests for the maximum penalty for the rapists. They were only convicted of kidnapping, apparently because prosecutors could not prove rape. The judges reportedly ignored evidence from a mobile phone video in which the attackers recorded the assault.

The court also sentenced both the woman and man who had been raped to 90 lashes each for what it termed “illegal mingling.” Under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, women are not allowed in public in the company of men other than their male relatives. A court may view a woman’s charge of rape as an admission of extramarital sexual relations (or “illegal mingling”) unless she can prove, by strict evidentiary standards, that this contact was legal and the intercourse was non-consensual.

Abdel Rahman al-Lahem, the woman’s lawyer, said, “My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates pertinent international conventions. The judicial bodies should have dealt with this girl as the victim rather than the culprit.”

FYI: Sharia Law  

Sharia law, the traditional Islamic law, is a far-reaching moral code that prescribes how Muslims should best conduct their lives.  It was originally conceived to regulate all aspects of life in Muslim societies, from the behaviour and habits of individuals to the workings of the criminal justice system and financial institutions.  

The implementation of Sharia varies tremendously in the world's predominantly Muslim societies.  

In countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan, and in the Taliban-era Afghanistan, which are governed by Islamists who view Islam as a political ideology as well as a personal faith, a strict interpretation of the Sharia serves as the supreme law of the land.   

For example, in Saudi Arabia, a woman's testimony in court is worth half that of a man's testimony. If a woman is raped, in order to prove an absence of consent, a woman is required to provide four witnesses to the rape, a near impossible task.   

Source: “Article 7: Right to equal protection by the law” from BBC Word Service,  <<http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art07.shtml>.

Sources:
“Saudi Arabia: Protest the Sentencing of Gang-Rape Victim to 200 Lashes” from Women Living Under Muslim Laws, posted on November 22, 2007, <http://www.wluml.org/english/actionsfulltxt.shtml?cmd%5B156%5D=i-156-558681>.
“Saudi Arabia: Rape Victim Punished for Speaking Out” from Human Rights Watch, posted on November 17, 2007, <http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/11/16/saudia17363.htm>.
“Saudi gang rape sentence 'unjust'” from BBC News, posted on November 16, 2007, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7098480.stm>.