Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, 75, to be flogged for associating with men

[struggle4progress]

* AFP
* December 15, 2009 6:26AM
HUMAN rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on Saudi Arabia to stay a sentence of 40 lashes handed down against a 75-year-old woman for breaching the kingdom's sex segregation rules ... http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/khamisa-mohammed-sawadi-75-to-be-flogged-for-associating-with-men/story-fn3dxity-1225810427673

75-yr-old widow to get 40 lashes
RIYADH – ... Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi’s troubles began last year when a Hai’a team entered her house in Al-Chamli city, north of Riyadh, and found her with two unrelated men, Fahd and Hadian, Al-Watan Arabic daily said. Fahd told Hai’a that he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. Al-Watan obtained the court’s verdict and said it was partly based on the Hai’a testimony. In his ruling, the judge said it had been proved that Fahd is not Sawadi’s son through breastfeeding ... The court said it based its March 3 ruling on “citizen information” and testimony from Fahd’s father, who accused Sawadi of corruption ... http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009031031697

March 9, 2009 -- Updated 0022 GMT (0822 HKT)
Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling
... "It's made everybody angry because this is like a grandmother," Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider told CNN. "Forty lashes -- how can she handle that pain? You cannot justify it." This is not the first Saudi court case to cause controversy. In 2007, a 19-year-old gang-rape victim in the Saudi city of Qatif was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison for meeting with an unrelated male. The seven rapists, who abducted the woman and man, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison. The case sparked international outrage and Saudi King Abdullah subsequently pardoned the "Qatif Girl" and the unrelated male ... http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/09/saudi.arabia.lashes/

Khulwa sentence against elderly widow causes uproar
Badea Abu Al-Naja | Arab News
JEDDAH: The sentencing of a 75-year-old Arab widow to 40 lashes and four months in prison for mingling with two young men, who were reportedly bringing her bread, has sparked fresh criticism of the Kingdom’s judiciary and the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Khamisa Sawadi, a Syrian who was married to a Saudi, was convicted and sentenced last week for meeting men who were not her immediate relatives. The two men, including one who was Sawadi’s late husband’s nephew, were also found guilty and sentenced to prison and lashes ... Arab News tried to contact police and the commission officials in Hail, but both refused to give further details about the case ... The elderly woman met the men last June after she asked one of them to bring her five loaves of bread, Al-Watan reported. The men — identified by Al-Watan as the nephew, Fahd Al-Anzi, and his friend and business partner, Hadiyan bin Zein — went to Sawadi’s home in the town of Al-Shamli. As they came out after delivering the bread, the two men were arrested by commission officials, Al-Watan said on Monday ... Sawadi had told the court that she considered Al-Anzi as her son, because she breast-fed him when he was a baby. But the court denied her claim, saying she had no evidence. In Islamic tradition, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation ... http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=120150&d=11&m=3&y=2009

On 3 March 2009, a court in the town of al-Shamli, north of the capital Riyadh, sentenced the three .. to floggings and imprisonment ... Both Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi and Fahad were sentenced to 40 lashes and four months’ imprisonment, while Hadyan received a sentence of 60 lashes and six months’ imprisonment. Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi was further sentenced to deportation to Syria once her prison term has been completed ... Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi and the two men, known only as Fahad and Hadyan, were arrested on 21 April 2008 by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (also known as the Mutawa’een or religious police) on suspicion of khilwa (being alone in the company of a member of the opposite sex who is not a close relative). Fahad and Hadyan have stated in their defence that they were delivering bread to Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi. Fahad argued that the offence of khilwa did not apply on the basis that he was related to Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, who breastfed him when he was a child. The court, however, rejected this argument ... http://www.amnesty.org/fr/library/asset/MDE23/005/2009/fr/83a10965-3fb2-4414-8d65-0eb44c0de948/mde230052009en.html

Index Number: MDE 23/015/2009
Date Published: 20 May 2009
Categories: Saudi Arabia
On or around 19 May 2009, the Court of Cassation in Riyadh refused to ratify the sentence of flogging and imprisonment that had been passed against Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, Fahad and Hadyan. They had all been found guilty of khilwa. The case has now been sent back to al-Shamli court for review ... http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE23/034/2009/en

Index Number: MDE 23/034/2009
Date Published: 12 November 2009
Categories: Saudi Arabia
Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, a 75-year-old Syrian woman, along with two younger Saudi Arabian men known only as Fahad, aged 24, and Hadyan, have had their sentences of flogging and imprisonment reimposed and confirmed on appeal after the Court of Cassation in Saudi Arabia sent the case back for retrial to the lower court which first heard it. If the recently established Supreme Court upholds their sentences, they will be imprisoned and at imminent risk of flogging ... http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE23/034/2009/en

Saudi Arabia: 75-year-old woman faces 40 lashes
14 December 2009
... Attempts to lodge an appeal at the Supreme Court were recently rejected ... http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/saudi-arabia-75-year-old-woman-faces-40-lashes-20091214

Saudi Arabia's laws are unwritten. Judges have wide latitude