Author: Mark Schliebs
Publication: NEWS.com.au
Date: November 22, 2007
URL: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22803638-2,00.html?from=public_rss
More than a thousand messages of protest against
the caning of a gang-rape victim have been sent to the Saudi Arabian officials
in Canberra - but Embassy staff are remaining silent.
NEWS.com.au yesterday launched a petition
against the sentence of 200 lashes and six months imprisonment handed down
to a 19-year-old rape victim, more than 1300 readers have posted their messages
for the Saudi Government.
A 162-page petition containing more than 1000
comments was sent to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Canberra this afternoon,
but officials have not returned repeated calls from NEWS.com.au about the
strong opposition against the sentence.
The woman, who was raped 14 times by seven
men last year, was originally sentenced to 90 lashes for travelling in a car
with a man who was not related to her before the attack.
At a retrial last week, the woman was handed
a sentence of 200 lashes and six months imprisonment, reportedly because she
had tried to engage the media to seek justice in her case.
The Australian and US governments have been
equivocal in their criticism of the sentence, refusing so far to condemn it.
Saudi Arabia's English-language daily Arab
News has been leading public criticism of the case, publishing a column today
declaring "justice is absent from ... many court cases in our country".
US Senator and leading presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton has condemned the sentence as an outrage.
NEWS.com.au reader Jake Miller wrote on the
petition that he hoped he could help the woman somehow.
"I feel so sorry for this poor woman,"
Miller said. "Please Saudi Arabian judges, change your mind and stop
the 200 lashes… this lady has suffered enough already.
Emma from Adelaide said that Australian's
should be outraged about the sentence.
"Hasn't this poor woman already been
punished enough for her 'crime' of getting into the car of an unrelated male?"
Emma said.
"I thought that punishment for a crime
under any country's laws was meant to discourage the person from re-offending
and stop others from committing the same crime."
Another reader wrote that people should not
just dismiss her punishment because it was a consequence of breaking the law.
"It is barbaric and uncivilised, the
penalty handed to her," Peter said.
Chras10 said that people should imagine what
it would be like to know someone in her situation.
"Imagine that (she) was your daughter
or wife or sister," Chras10 said.
"I want to go over there myself and stop
it."
