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<H1>Saudi Kidnap, Rape Victim Faces Lashing for 'Crime' of Being Alone With Man
Not Related to Her</H1>
<P><STRONG>Tuesday , March 06, 2007</STRONG></P>
<P><IMG alt=FC1 src="http://www.foxnews.com/images/foxnews_story.gif"></P>
<P>A 19-year-old Saudi woman who was kidnapped, beaten and gang raped by seven
men who then took photos of their victim and threatened to kill her, was
sentenced under the country's <A
href="javascript:siteSearch('Islamic law');"><B>Islamic-based law</B></A> to 90
lashes for the "crime" of being alone with a man not related to her.</P>
<P>The woman is appealing to <A
href="javascript:siteSearch('Saudi King Abdullah');"><B>Saudi King
Abdullah</B></A> to intervene in the controversial case.</P>
<P>"I ask the king to consider me as one of his own daughters and have mercy on
me and set me free from the 90 lashes," the woman said in an emotional interview
published Monday in the <A
href="javascript:siteSearch('Saudi Gazette');"><B>Saudi Gazette</B></A>.</P>
<P>"I was shocked at the verdict. I couldn't believe my ears. Ninety lashes!
Ninety lashes!" the woman, identified only as "G," told the English-language
newspaper.</P>
<P>Five months after the harsh judgment, her sentence has yet to be carried out,
"G" said she waits in fear every day for the phone call telling her to submit to
authorities to carry out her punishment.</P>
<P>Lashes are usually spread over several days. About 50 lashes are given at a
time.</P>
<P>The woman's ordeal began a year ago when she was blackmailed into meeting a
man who threatened to tell her family they were having a relationship outside
wedlock, which is illegal in the desert kingdom, according to a report in <A
href="javascript:siteSearch('The Scotsman');"><B>The Scotsman</B></A>
newspaper.</P>
<P>She met the man at a shopping mall and, after driving off together, the
blackmailer's car was stopped by two other cars bearing men wielding knives and
meat cleavers.</P>
<P>During the next three hours, the woman was raped 14 times by her seven
captors.</P>
<P>One of the men took pictures of her naked with his mobile phone and
threatened to blackmail her with them.</P>
<P>Back at home in a town near the eastern city of <A
href="javascript:siteSearch('Qatif');"><B>Qatif</B></A>, the young woman did not
tell her family of her ordeal. Nor did she inform the authorities, fearing the
rapist would circulate the pictures of her naked. She also attempted
suicide.</P>
<P>Five of the rapists were arrested and given jail terms ranging from 10 months
to five years. The prosecutor had asked for the death penalty for the men.</P>
<P>The Saudi justice ministry, however, said rape could not be proved because
there were no witnesses and the men had recanted confessions they made during
interrogation.</P>
<P>The judges, basing their decision on Islamic law, also decided to sentence
the woman and her original blackmailer to lashes for being alone together in his
car.</P>
<P><STRONG><EM>The Saudi Gazette and The Scotsman contributed to this
report.</EM></STRONG></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>