A Saudi woman was in the news recently because she was brutally raped by seven men. Unfortunately for the woman, not only was she raped, she was then convicted for not being escorted by a man who was not her guardian under Saudi law, as adult women in Saudi Arabia must be escorted by a man to whom she is married or related to.
This unfortunate woman, who was only 18 at the time, suffers from anemia, several blood disorders and asthma, and the courts treat her as a violent criminal who has committed some sort of terrible crime.
This woman’s only apparent crime was being gang raped in the wrong country. Her husband claims that he lives in a country that treats its women well and with respect, but apparently he lives in a country that is completely backwards when it comes to justice.
The men who were involved in actually gang raping the Saudi woman were convicted to two years in prison. This was in 2006, so these men may be out, and they would probably do it again since they know now that they can get off easy, as long as they rape a woman who is unescorted by a man of relation.
The Saudi woman, however, was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes (yes, this country still uses lashes from a whip to enforce its laws). At least she wasn’t caught holding hands with her friend because they may have chopped off her hands and then beaten her with them.
This story seems like something I would read in the Bible, not something I would expect to read about in a news story in 2007. What kind of country convicts a rape victim and then beats her?
Saudi Arabia needs some serious help when violent criminals can walk the street, kidnap women from a mall, then brutally gang rape them. But that’s not the most disgusting part of this story.
The thing that I find most disgusting is the extreme lack of compassion for a fellow human being who is clearly suffering, a human being who is sick already and now apparently suffers from severe depression and stress.
Several human rights groups have gotten involved in the case and asked the king of Saudi Arabia to drop the charges against the woman, but so far there has been no luck.
When the woman tried to appeal her case she again suffered injustice when they doubled her sentence. People have speculated that her sentence was doubled because she spoke to the media. The court maintains that they had found more evidence against her, evidence that shows she was committing the horrible crime of walking through the mall with a man of no relation and then getting brutally gang raped by seven large Saudi men, shame on her.
I find it’s hard not to be disgusted by this case, but the way women are treated in that country I am not surprised. Women have no rights, they must adhere to a strict dress code, they are not allowed to drive, they cannot leave the home unless escorted by a man (who is related to them) and they cannot even have surgery unless a man gives them permission.
Saudi Arabia’s government has been taking baby steps in improving the rights of their women. They have made special courts to handle domestic abuse and made new labor laws.
That’s not exactly what I call progress, especially when a woman gets raped and convicted for it.