Outrageous Sharia Brutality In Saudi Arabia

This is an absolutely horrendous case out of Saudi Arabia that has only gotten worse. The update is at the bottom. For background from an earlier post:

A man and woman unrelated to each other went out and were accosted by five knife wielding men who kidnapped them. They were taken to a remote location, where the kidnappers gang raped the woman a total of fourteen times. The kidnappers/rapists were eventually caught. On those facts, what do law and justice demand as punishment for the guilty and as recompense for the victim?

If we were in America, the charges would likely be aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape along with a smattering of other, lesser charges. It is quite likely the prison terms for these offenses, in sum, would range from twenty years to life. The victim would be be given counselling and she would likely receive funds from a government victim's compensation program.

That's in America, where we are ruled by a secular legal code that developed out of a judeo-christian ethic. It would likely be similar in any western country. In Saudi Arabia, where this crime actually occurred, the nation is officially ruled by Sharia law -- the code of law discerned from a reading of the Koran -- and as interpreted within the strictures of Wahhabi Islam. Wahhabi Islam is, unfortunate to say, the triumphalist, grossly racist, misogynistic and brutal form of Islam that has been exported to the United States and across the world by Saudi Arabia, using billions of dollars of oil money. So what happens to the victim and her attackers under Wahhabi Sharia law?

According to a report in the Agence France-Presse:

Five men were arrested for the rape and given jail terms ranging from 10 months to five years by a panel of judges . . . But the judges also decided to sentence the woman . . . and the man to lashes for being alone together in the car.

Yes, you heard that correctly. The victim will be flogged for, as the article goes on to say, a total of 90 lashes.

To illustrate just how barbaric this punishmet is, here is a description of a Saudi judicial flogging given to a man.

I was brought to the whipping area. They tied me to a post. My hands were handcuffed and they also shackled my legs. I was wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants... The whip was one and a half metres long... with a heavy lead piece attached to the tip. It was terrible. Some fell on my thighs and my back. I would fall when the whip reached my feet but the prison guard would raise me up to continue the whipping. It was terrible. I was amazed to find myself still alive after the 70th lash was given. It lasted about 15 minutes... my back was bleeding. I cried.

As to the victim in the rape, she appealed her verdict but was "told by one of the judges [that] she was lucky not to have been given jail time." Since her trial, the woman . . . [has] tried to commit suicide because of her ordeal and was beaten by her younger brother because the rape had brought shame on their family." Nice to see her family supporting her and protecting her honor, isn't it?

Now for the update today on the outcome of the woman's appeal from Fox News:

A 19-year-old female victim of gang rape who initially was ordered to undergo 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail for telling her story to the news media.

The new verdict was handed down by Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council following a retrial, the Arab News reported.

The court last year sentenced the six heavily-armed men who carried out the attack against the Shiite woman to between one and five years for committing the crime.

But the judges had decided to punish the woman further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media," a court source told the Arab News.

The new verdict issued on Wednesday also toughened the sentences against the six men to between two and nine years in prison.

Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islamic doctrine that forbids unrelated men and women from associating with each other, bans women from driving and forces them to cover head-to-toe in public.

This is beyond outrageous. Remember this whenever CAIR, MAS or any other Wahhabi / Salafi organization tries to tell you their version of Islam is a religion of peace or how Islam protects the rights of women. This is medieval barbarity - and that is the essence Wahhabi / Salafi Islam.

Update: The Saudi Courts heavy hand has also extended to the lawyer for the victim.

Update: The Saudi Justice Ministry has reaffirmed the sentence and is making some incredible claims in order to deflect international attention.