Saudi Arabian girl sentenced to jail after being gang-raped

A Saudi Arabian court has doubled the number of lashes and added a jail sentence for a woman that was gang-raped. The original punishment was for violating laws on segregation of the sexes , as the convicted woman was seen with an unrelated man in his car at the time of the attack, BBC News reported Thursday.

According to the article, when the woman appealed, “the judges said she had been attempting to use the media to influence them.”

The article notes that: “According to the Arab News newspaper, the 19-year-old woman, who is from Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority, was gang-raped 14 times in an attack in the eastern province a year-and-a-half ago.”

“Seven men from the majority Sunni community were found guilty of the rape and sentenced to prison terms ranging from just under a year to five years.”

“But the victim was also punished for violating Saudi Arabia’s laws on segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating with each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the car of a strange man.”

“On appeal, the Arab News reported that the punishment was not reduced but increased to 200 lashes and a six-month prison sentence.”

The attackers’ sentences – originally of up to five years – were doubled, but, according to the article, “the sentences are still low considering they could have faced the death penalty.”

For the full article, click here.