Pardon Spares Saudi Rape Victim 200 Lashes

The backlash from knowing that the Saudi justice system was going to subject a female rape victim to 200 lashes because she was initially found to be in the presence of a male not related to her, and then had the penalty increased because she had the audacity to question the initial verdict, will have her crimes pardoned by the Saudi king.

Still, the misogyny shines through:

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has pardoned a female rape victim who had been sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes for being alone with a man who was not related to her, a Saudi newspaper reported Monday.

Saudi Justice Minister Abdullah bin Muhammed al-Sheik told al-Jazirah newspaper that the pardon does not mean the king doubted the country's judges, but instead acted in the "interests of the people."

"The king always looks into alleviating the suffering of the citizens when he becomes sure that these verdicts will leave psychological effects on the convicted people, though he is convinced and sure that the verdicts were fair," al-Jazirah quoted al-Sheik as saying.

The verdict was no where near fair, and the only interests of the people the king took into account was the bad public relations that the Saudis faced because this woman challenged an inane verdict that punished the rape victim for being raped and then further punished her for questioning the verdict.

The fact is that the Saudi king continues to condone the misogyny that led to the verdict in the first place. No where does he repudiate the need to try the woman for being in the presence of a man not related to her even as she was gang raped.

The king refuses to question the justice system that more than doubled her sentence because she questioned the verdict and went to the media.

All this does is bring more attention to the Islamic law that allows this kind of gross violation of human rights and womens' rights.