BBC NEWS: Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed (Another take, via Canada’s Globe and Mail)

What.The….?

Back story: Eighteen months ago, a 19-year-old Shia girl was gang-raped…fourteen times. Her rapists were sent up for anywhere from less than a year to five years. Initially, she got sentenced to 90 lashes for violating segregation laws (the crime, apparently was being in the car of a guy she wasn’t related to; they went to the same high school, and she was getting a picture back from him). The case was appealed. Now, the rapists’ sentences have been doubled. You’d think that would be a good thing, right? However! She’s now getting 200 lashes and six months in jail. So not only are they getting punished; so is she. Her only true crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, the reasoning for the increased punishment for her is because of this…

The Arab News quoted an official as saying the judges had decided to punish the girl for trying to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media.

Also, her lawyer had his license revoked and was (for all practical purposes) removed from the case.

I don’t blame her for using the media. The way Middle-Eastern women (in general) are treated is appalling. The way this girl has been treated is disgusting. She’s getting additional whippings because she had the gall to try to stand up for herself as she knew that virtually no one else would. It’s like she’s a victim all over again — a victim of a misogynist society.

Dis.gust.ing.