Yes, ladies, you read that correctly: a Saudi woman has received a six-month jail sentence, as well as a sentencing to receive 200 lashings, on top of being gang raped by seven men.
You read that right also: SEVEN MEN.
The reason the victim is receiving a punishment?
She is a Shiite Muslim who was convicted of being in a car with a man who was not a relative - a violation of Saudi Arabia's Islamic law which requires segregation based on one's sex. Her mistake? Going to court against the men, receiving an initial sentence of 90 lashes, and appealing it - and involving the media. It would appear that the Saudi Ministry of Justice was influenced (perhaps by embarrassment, perhaps by a power trip?) by this media attention and chose to not only increase the sentences of the men convicted of the rape, but also to increase the rape victim's punishment for her indiscretion with the media.
All religious beliefs aside, at what point do we, as a world society, say enough is enough? Was not the rape enough punishment of a woman who broke the Saudi law by being in a car with a former friend? In deference to the law of another faith and country, I can understand a judge wanting to get the point across about the law. I think, personally, that the violence against the woman has already done that. A horrible, disgusting punishment that will haunt her for years - no jail time or lashings necessary. One wonders what it will do to her faith in her country and her religion.
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