The government of Saudi Arabia can charitably be called medieval. There is no freedom of speech, press, or religion. Women are forbidden from driving. (They can fly airplanes, but have to be driven to the airport. Go figure.) Anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport is barred from entering the country.
But this latest story is just sickening.
Last year, a 19-year-old woman was sitting in a car with an ex-boyfriend when she was abducted and gang-raped by seven men. The rapists were sent to prison, which is something, but the court wasn't finished.
For being in a car with a unrelated male, her punishment was ninety lashes with a whip. The woman's lawyer naturally considered this unjust to say the least and appealed.
The result? Her sentence was increased to two hundred lashes and six months in jail. And her lawyer was disbarred.
That'll show her.
This is sadly not unusual in Saudi Arabia. The country can be called "intolerant" like the Sun can be called "warm." The religious police known as the mutaween patrol the country meting out punishment for anything deemed insufficiently Islamic. On-the-spot beatings or even killings for listening to Western music, drinking alcohol or dressing "immodestly" are not uncommon.
These are the same delightful people who back in 2002 allowed fifteen girls to burn to death in a fire at a Mecca school because they were not dressed properly for escaping the flames. The mutaween not only prevented rescue crews from entering the burning building, they even beat the girls who did get out and forced them back inside for not wearing head scarves and black robes.
Don't expect anything from Washington other than a gentle tsk-tsk for this latest outrage. The Saudis supply too much of our oil and the royal family's business interests are too intertwined with those of the Bush family for anything more.
But this latest story is just sickening.
Last year, a 19-year-old woman was sitting in a car with an ex-boyfriend when she was abducted and gang-raped by seven men. The rapists were sent to prison, which is something, but the court wasn't finished.
For being in a car with a unrelated male, her punishment was ninety lashes with a whip. The woman's lawyer naturally considered this unjust to say the least and appealed.
The result? Her sentence was increased to two hundred lashes and six months in jail. And her lawyer was disbarred.
That'll show her.
This is sadly not unusual in Saudi Arabia. The country can be called "intolerant" like the Sun can be called "warm." The religious police known as the mutaween patrol the country meting out punishment for anything deemed insufficiently Islamic. On-the-spot beatings or even killings for listening to Western music, drinking alcohol or dressing "immodestly" are not uncommon.
These are the same delightful people who back in 2002 allowed fifteen girls to burn to death in a fire at a Mecca school because they were not dressed properly for escaping the flames. The mutaween not only prevented rescue crews from entering the burning building, they even beat the girls who did get out and forced them back inside for not wearing head scarves and black robes.
Don't expect anything from Washington other than a gentle tsk-tsk for this latest outrage. The Saudis supply too much of our oil and the royal family's business interests are too intertwined with those of the Bush family for anything more.
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