Blaming the Victim

There's been a major development in the latest gang-rape trial in Saudi Arabia. One of the people involved has reportedly been pardoned by the king himself! Monarchical privilege rears its ugly head! People in the streets are sure to be outraged at this miscarriage of justice; letting one of the convicted offenders get away without punishment! What is their country coming to?

I should mention now that the person pardoned was the rape victim. (SOURCE)

What seems to have occurred is that the 19-year old woman was attempting to retrieve a picture from a friend. (I say "seems to have occured" because of the unreliability of the woman's testimony, which I'll mention later.) While sitting in his car, other people got in and drove the car to a secluded location, where other men were waiting. Rapes and beatings then occurred. The rapists were all sentenced to between 2 and 9 years in prison. Because Saudi Arabia has a strict prohibition on unmarried women being in the company of any man other than a relative, she's being charged with being in the company of a "non-relative", meaning that guy she was in the car with before the actual crimes started.

The sentence for this crime is 90 lashings. Last month, the Supreme Judicial Council ordered the punishment increased to 200 lashings. In other words, she wasn't just GUILTY, she was REALLY guilty. Perhaps it was increased because, having been gang-raped, she was alone with more than one man. This curdles my stomach. A bit of further digging found that her sentence was increased because she attempted to "aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media".

What's even more strange is that this woman was with a male companion, who was also kidnapped, seemingly. This male companion will probably not be charged, because it's not illegal for a young man to be in the company of strange men alone, even if they're beating him up.

Her previous lawyer can no longer defend her, either. For his involvement, he was barred from the case, his legal license confiscated, and he himself ordered to appear before a disciplinary hearing.

All punishments are at the whim of the presiding judicial officials. Punishments for rapists can range anywhere from no time served to death. Isn't subjective legal roulette exciting?

So what important lesson do we take from this? If you're an unmarried woman in Saudi Arabia, be sure to stay with a male relative. Sure, the both of you will still be overpowered by 3-1 odds, and you'll mostly like still be gang-raped in a field while your relative is beaten by the guys standing on the sidelines. But when all the dust settles, you won't be charged with a crime.

At least, not the "company of relatives" crime. Women who are raped can still be stoned to death for amoral behavior, even if they commit no other crime.

Also, women can't defend themselves effectively, because the testimony of all women is considered hearsay. Only men's testimony can be considered objective, even in he-said, she-said crimes.

Female testimony in Islamic court is unreliable because:

1. Women are much more emotional than men and will, as a result of their emotions, distort their testimony.

2. Women do not participate in public life, so they will not be capable of understanding what they observe.

3. Women are dominated completely by men, who by the grace of God are deemed superior; therefore, women will give testimony according to what the last man told them.

4. Women are forgetful and their testimony cannot be considered reliable (SOURCE)

Wasn't the Saudi king showing mercy by pardoning the silly woman of talking with a non-relative? She should know better than to talk about it to the media, though. Next time, the judges might not be so nice.