AL-AWWAMIYA, Saudi Arabia – When the teenager went to the police a few months ago to report she was gang-raped by seven men, she never imagined a judge would punish her – and that she would be sentenced to more lashes than one of her alleged rapists received.
The story of the Girl of Qatif, as the alleged rape victim has been called by the media in Saudi Arabia, has triggered a rare debate about the country’s legal system, in which judges have wide discretion in punishing a criminal, rules of evidence are shaky and sometimes no defense lawyers are present.
The result, critics say, are sentences left to the whim of judges. These include one in which a group of men got heavier sentences for harassing women than the men in the Girl of Qatif rape case or three men who were convicted of raping a boy. In another, a woman was ordered to divorce her husband against her will based on a demand by her relatives.
In the case of the Girl of Qatif, she was sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married – a crime in this strictly segregated country – at the time that she was allegedly attacked and raped by a group of other men.
“The big shock came when the judge sentenced me and the man to 90 lashes each,” said the woman. The sentence was handed down as part of the rape trial. Lashes are usually spread over several days, dealt around 50 at a time.
Judges in the case referred The Associated Press to the Justice Ministry when asked about the sentencing. The ministry said Tuesday that rape could not be proved. There were no witnesses and the men had recanted confessions they made, the statement said. It said the verdict cannot be appealed.
Muslim law, Sharia allows defendants to deny signed confessions, according to Abdul-Aziz al-Gassem, a lawyer who was not involved in the case. They still get punished if convicted, but the verdict is lighter.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
