Saudi Arabia defended on Tuesday a controversial verdict sentencing a 19-year-old gang rape victim to six months in jail and 200 lashes.
The Shiite Muslim woman had initially been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicted of violating Saudi Arabia's rigid Shariah Islamic law on segregation of the sexes.
In its decision doubling her sentence last week, the Saudi General Court also roughly doubled prison sentences for the seven men convicted of raping her, Saudi media said.
The upholding of a decision to punish the victim triggered international outcry.
While declining to directly criticize the Saudi Arabia's judiciary, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "I think when you look at the crime and the fact that now the victim is punished, I think that causes a fair degree of surprise and astonishment."
"But it is within the power of the Saudi government to take a look at the verdict and change it," McCormack said.
On Monday, Canada said it would complain to Saudi authorities about the sentence, described as "barbaric" by Jose Verger, the Canadian minister responsible for the status of women.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the 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."
But the Saudi judiciary stood by its decision on Tuesday.
"The Ministry of Justice welcomes constructive criticism, away from emotions," it said in a statement.
The statement also said that the "charges were proven" against the woman for having been in a car with an unrelated male, and repeated criticism of her lawyer for talking "defiantly" about the judicial system, saying "he has shown ignorance."
Because he reached out to the media, the court has banned lawyer Abdul Rahman al-Lahem from further defending the woman, confiscating his license and summoning him to a disciplinary hearing later this month.
The justice ministry implied the victim's sentence was increased because she had spoken out to the press. "For whoever has an objection on verdicts issued, the system allows to appeal without resorting to the media," said the statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The rape took place last year. The victim has said it occurred as she tried to retrieve her picture from a male high school classmate she used to know. While in a car with the classmate, two assailants commandeered the vehicle and drove them to a secluded area. She said she was raped there by seven men, and her friend was also attacked by three of them.
The case was referred back to the General Court by an appeals court last summer, after the woman's lawyer contested the initial verdict, saying it was too lenient for the rapists and unjust for the victim.
Justice in Saudi Arabia is administered by a system of religious courts according to the kingdom's strict interpretation of Shariah law.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
LEFT AND RIGHT: Battling anti-incumbent, anticommunist sentiment, Jeanette Jara had a precarious lead over far-right Jose Antonio Kast as they look to the Dec. 14 run Leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast are to go head-to-head in Chile’s presidential runoff after topping Sunday’s first round of voting in an election dominated by fears of violent crime. With 99 percent of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, won 26.85 percent, compared with 23.93 percent for Kast, the Servel electoral service said. The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs. Kast, 59, has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile’s border with Bolivia to
DEATH SENTENCE: The ousted leader said she was willing to attend a fresh trial outside Bangladesh where the ruling would not be a ‘foregone conclusion’ Bangladesh’s fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday called the guilty verdict and death sentence in her crimes against humanity trial “biased and politically motivated.” Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against the student-led uprising that ousted her. She was found guilty and sentenced to death earlier yesterday. “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate,” Hasina said in a statement issued from hiding in India. “They are biased and politically motivated,” she
RSS