Royal Benevolence

There's nothing quite like it, eh?

RIYADH (AFP) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pardoned a teenage girl sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes after being gang raped in a decision swiftly welcomed by Washington on Monday.

There was no immediate official announcement of the king's decision to overturn the sentence against the 19-year-old girl which had drawn criticism of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom from key ally President George W. Bush.

The king's decision was instead reported by the Riyadh daily Al-Jazirah but, like the rest of the Saudi press, the newspaper faithfully reflects the official line on all sensitive issues.

{...}The girl, who was 18 at the time she was raped, was attacked at knifepoint by seven men after she was found in a car with a male companion who was not a relative, in breach of strict Saudi law.

{...}In October 2006, a judge sentenced her to 90 lashes for being with the man -- a taboo in the conservative Muslim kingdom which imposes segregation of the sexes.

She appealed against the sentence but despite her ordeal the court ruled that her punishment should be increased to 200 lashes and a six-month jail term.

The judges decided to punish the girl further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media," a court source told the English-language daily Arab News.

The rapists were initially sentenced to one to five years in jail, but those terms were also toughened in November to between two and nine years.

A rape conviction carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, but the court did not impose it due to the "lack of witnesses" and the "absence of confessions," the justice ministry said last month.

The court also revoked the licence of the girl's lawyer, who has been summoned by the justice ministry to appear before a disciplinary panel.

{...}A Saudi official, who declined to be named, told AFP on Monday that he was unhappy with the "ridiculous" furore over the court ruling that had damaged the kingdom's image both at home and abroad.{...}

So, get gang raped in Saudi Arabia; be charged with 90 lashes for being with a man who is not your relative; have that sentence increased to 200 hundred lashes and six months in prison for protesting; then be pardoned by the benevolent, all-knowing Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques---who, it appears doesn't care so very much about if the law itself is moral in that it hardly protects the victim, but rather because he's tired of taking shit over your case from international do-gooders.

Nice, huh?