|
Saudi again defends rape verdict
24/11/2007 22:47 - (SA)
Riyadh - Saudi Arabia defended on Saturday
a court's decision to sentence a woman who was gang-raped to 200
lashes, saying she was having an extramarital affair in
violation of Islamic laws.
The case of the 19-year-old Shi'ite woman who was abducted
and raped along with a male companion by seven men has drawn
international attention. Even the United States, a close ally of
the conservative kingdom, offered mild criticism of the verdict.
"The woman in the case is married and has confessed to
establishing a relationship in violation of (Islamic) sharia
law," the Saudi Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said she
and her companion had been alone in a dark area outdoors, when
they were noticed by the men who later raped her.
Ruling according to Saudi Arabia's strict reading of Islamic
law, a court had originally sentenced the woman to 90 lashes for
being alone with an unrelated man and the rapists to jail terms
of up to five years.
Last week the Supreme Judicial Council increased the
sentence to 200 lashes and six months in prison and ordered the
rapists to serve between two and nine years in jail.
The ruling provoked rare criticism from the United States,
which has invited Saudi Arabia to attend a Middle East peace
conference in Annapolis, Maryland next week.
A State Department spokesperson told reporters on Monday that
"most (people) would find this relatively astonishing that
something like this happens".
The court also took disciplinary action against the woman's
lawyer, Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem, forcibly removing him from the
case for having talked about it to the media.
"We reiterate that that judicial rulings in this virtuous
country ... are based on God's book (the Koran) and the
traditions of his Prophet (Mohammad) and that no ruling is
issued without being based on evidence ...," said Saturday's
statement, carried by the official news agency SPA.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has called on King
Abdullah, who last month announced plans to overhaul the system,
to drop all charges against the woman.
The Saudi legal system is dominated by clerics who adhere to
the kingdom's austere Sunni interpretation of Islamic law.
- Reuters
|
News
