euclidean Report This Comment Date: November 20, 2007 09:19PM
Saudi Arabia has defended a court's decision to sentence a woman who was
gang-raped to 200 lashes of the whip.
The 19-year-old Shi'ite woman from the town of Qatif in the Eastern Province and
an unrelated male companion were abducted and raped by seven men in 2006.
Ruling according to Saudi Arabia's strict reading of Islamic law, a court had
originally sentenced the woman to 90 lashes and the rapists to jail terms of
between 10 months and five years.
It blamed the woman for being alone with an unrelated man.
Last week the Supreme Judicial Council increased the sentence to 200 lashes and
six months in prison and ordered the rapists to serve between two and nine years
in jail.