Ruling Jolts Even Saudis: 200 Lashes for Rape Victim by Rasheed Abou-Alsamh
Read the Article at NYTimes.com
“For a woman to be in seclusion with a man who is not her husband or a relative is a crime in Saudi Arabia, whose legal code is based on a strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islamic law.”
For a country that extols the “separation between church and state,” we’ve remained exceptionally quiet about the danger of Sharia law. A brief description of some components of Sharia law (which is based almost DIRECTLY from religious texts. Do not think for one second this is an inherently peaceful religion):
1. Theft is punished by imprisonment or amputation of hands or feet.
- Quran 5:38: As to the thief, Male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime: and Allah is Exalted in power.
2. Adulterers are stoned to death. In the religious texts, only the female is given the death sentence.
- Sahih Bukhari, Book 82: He said, "My son was a laborer working for this man and he committed an illegal sexual intercourse with his wife, and I gave one-hundred sheep and a slave as a ransom for my son's sin. Then I asked a learned man about this case and he informed me that my son should receive one hundred lashes and be exiled for one year, and the man's wife should be stoned to death." The Prophet said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, I will judge you according to the Laws of Allah. Your one-hundred sheep and the slave are to be returned to you, and your son has to receive one-hundred lashes and be exiled for one year. O Unais! Go to the wife of this man, and if she confesses, then stone her to death." Unais went to her and she confessed. He then stoned her to death.
3. Single “fornicators” will be lashed a minimum of 100 Times. In this article, the victim of rape will be lashed 200 times and sentenced to 6 months in prison.
- Quran 24:2: The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.
4. Those who renounce Islam for another religion must die.
-Bukhari, volume 9, #17: Narrated Abdullah Allah's Messenger said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Messenger, cannot be shed except in three cases: in Qisas (equality in punishment) for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (Apostate) and leaves the Muslims."
"The woman and the former boyfriend were originally sentenced to 90 lashes each for being together in private, while the attackers received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison, and 80 to 1,000 lashes each.
Mr. Lahem appealed the attackers’ sentences, saying that they were too lenient and that the treatment of the victim was too harsh. In its new decision issued Tuesday, the court increased the victim’s sentence to 200 lashes and six months in jail."
This woman, raped in a society where the victim is also then the perpetrator, is further humiliated and debased, further punished and TORTURED. Where are the democrats who had a fit when Mr. Mukasey refused to condemn waterboarding as torture (thereby subjecting several members of the military to judicial scrutiny) without having full access to top-secret documents? This woman is guilty of nothing more than wanting pictures of herself back from an ex-boyfriend. She’s not a terrorist plotting to kill the infidel, building roadside bombs, or organizing the next 9/11. And her discomfort isn’t “simulated” (waterboarding is “simulated drowning”); it is very real. Where is the left’s tirade of angry protests? Why are they not barraging the government of Saudi Arabia with floods of messages condemning this common sentence as torture, or going to the media as they did with Mr. Mukasey? In fact, where is their condemnation of integrating radical Islamic law into government in the first place? The fact is they’re too oblivious and too politically correct to EVER mention it. While members of the right realize the gravity of the situation in the Middle East, where millions are oppressed and killed in the name of Allah, the left is too busy exploiting issues like torture for political gain. Don’t believe me? Read Marc Santora’s article about it today here. Republicans are depicted with a bloodthirstiness that is quite misdirected.
“Lashing is a common sentence under the Saudi penal code, applied for crimes ranging from homosexuality and drinking alcohol to theft and adultery. Usually, lashes are meted out in increments because offenders could not survive hundreds of lashes at once. The administrator of the punishment is supposed to hold a Koran under his arm so he cannot swing the whip too fiercely; lashes are not supposed to leave permanent scars. The sentence is frequently delivered in public, often at the entrance to a jail.”
I’m totally aghast. The victim will be physically tortured and it will be done in public. This woman’s body was violated and her psyche forever traumatized, yet her naked body will bleed in front of a jail with thousands of eyes around her. The public is also one that will likely ostracize her not only because she spoke to a man that’s not her husband or relative, but also because her rape signifies she wasn't a virgin before marriage. This abhorrent and nauseating patriarchal ideology, probably existent only because of the males’ fragile egos and shortcomings (if you know what I mean), has long been denounced here in the United States as sexist. Yet once again, a complete silence resonates from the “feminists” of the United States, whose agendas have become more closely intertwined with abortion “rights” than actually promoting improvements for the welfare of their sisters.
