Saudi king pardons teenage rape victim

[ViolaLee]

RIYADH (AFP) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pardoned a teenage girl sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes after being gang raped in a decision swiftly welcomed by Washington on Monday.

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Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Ibrahim al-Sheikh hailed the king's "laudable instructions to grant the pardon", in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The sentence against the 19-year-old girl had drawn criticism of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom from key ally President George W. Bush.

The girl, who was 18 at the time she was raped, was attacked at knifepoint by seven men after she was found in a car with a male companion who was not a relative, in breach of strict Saudi law.

The king also pardoned the male companion, the justice minister announced.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071217/ts_afp/saudiwomenrapejusticepardon

Thank Allah.

[Wndrtch]

RIYADH (AFP) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pardoned a teenage girl sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes after being gang raped in a decision swiftly welcomed by Washington on Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Ibrahim al-Sheikh hailed the king's "laudable instructions to grant the pardon", in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The sentence against the 19-year-old girl had drawn criticism of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom from key ally President George W. Bush.

The girl, who was 18 at the time she was raped, was attacked at knifepoint by seven men after she was found in a car with a male companion who was not a relative, in breach of strict Saudi law.

The king also pardoned the male companion, the justice minister announced.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071217/ts_afp/saudiwomenrapejusticepardon

Thank Allah.


So, it's not OK for a non-married woman to be with a lover, but IS ok for seven men to rape said woman if caught. What happened to the guy she was with? Did they rape him to?

I hope you gals out there are paying attention, because this is the extreme part of Islam that is threatening to spread through out the region and beyond. Anywhere there is a Muslim population, is a target for this interpretation of Islamic law. "Terrorism" is a tool used by these extremists, to force secular Muslim states into this.

[Mia]

That was mighty nice of them to pardon her. I wonder what will happen with the attention from the US drifts away? Like the woman in Pakistan. When the world lost interest, her case was reversed.

[ViolaLee]

Wnd I don't think they thought it was OK for her to be raped. The men who raped her are in jail.

Yes the man she was with was also raped.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AF444D2D-E666-437A-A441-37EA99C8BE4F.htm

Mia - I hope that does not happen.

[jafar00]

Thank Allah.


Alhumdulillah :)

Yes, the rapists were convicted and sentenced. She was also convicted of a separate offense, though the King was good enough to see that she had suffered enough already.

You might say it was callous of them to also convict here of the crime of being unchaperoned with a non related male, but that is a crime in Saudi Arabia so she was separately charged with that offense.

To put it into perspective, lets say the woman was raped after being caught holding up a liquor store at gunpoint. Would you be against her being charged with armed robbery despite being raped? Would there be the same uproar?

Don't get me wrong. I do not support the regime in power in Arabia and some of their interpretations are opposed to what I have learned, but the point I make is that you should follow the laws in the country you live or either emigrate, or do what it takes to get the law changed.

[ViolaLee]

The uproar was mostly about the 200 lashes I think.

We find that barbaric.