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Barbaric Rule
Saudi Arabia's inhuman punishment of a rape victim
22 November 2007
Venue: Saudi Arabia Consulate, Cuff Parade, Mumbai
We protest the inhumane punishment meted out to a 19-year-old
woman-victim of gang rape in Saudi Arabia. Initially ordered to face 90
lashes for 'being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the
rape', the sentence is now enhanced to '200 lashes and six months in
jail for telling her story to the news media'. We are equally dismayed
that her attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim's law license was not only
revoked because he disclosed the case to the Saudi-controlled media, he
faces a possible three-year suspension and disbarment. The court last
year sentenced the six heavily-armed men, who carried out the attack
against the Shiite woman to imprisonment between one and five years.
Following a retrial, the new verdict now toughens the sentences against
the six men between two to nine years imprisonment, while the woman is
further punished for 'her attempt to aggravate and influence the
judiciary through the media'.
In defense of women's rights, the
undersigned groups are running an International Campaign against this
shocking incident. We are distressed by the fact that far from upholding
the rights of the woman the Saudi authorities say the trial and
sentences are in keeping with the provisions of the Sharia and,
therefore, fair. Infact, this interpretation of the Sharia amounts to
nothing short of the demonisation of Islam. Under the present system,
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, requirement to get a
man's permission to travel or have surgery. Women are also not allowed
to testify in court unless it is about a private matter that was not
observed by a man, and they are not allowed to vote.
Interestingly, Saudi Arabia
became a party to the 'Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
discrimination against Women' albeit with reservations, in September
2000. The Convention defines discrimination against women as "...any
distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has
the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition,
enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on
a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental
freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any
other field."
We strongly believe that
condonation of the sentence amounts to a mockery of the concept of
justice and a mockery of women as a gender. The license of the woman's
lawyer has been revoked as well. Both have had their basic human rights
violated! By signing this petition, you defend the universal rights of
human beings in general and strengthen the movement for women's rights
in particular.
November 22, 2007
Send Protest Letters to
1. United Nations, India,
011-24628877
2. Saudi Arabia Consulate,
Mumbai, 022-22182341
3. Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia,
New Delhi, 011-26144083
4. Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women. [email protected]
Organised
by: Citizens for Justice and Peace, Muslims for Secular Democracy,
Communalism Combat, Majlis, Women’s Centre, Awaz-e-Niswan, Muslim
Intellectual Forum
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