Saudi Arabia to lash Filipino rape victim 100 times

[ccharles000]

GMA News TV (Philippines) reported today about an alarming development in the case of a Filipino worker who was raped in Saudi-Arabia this August and jailed for it. After miscarrying the fetus, the woman now faces lashing before being released.

As we’ve previously reported, the woman who worked as a janitor was raped by a Bangladeshi co-worker last August. In September, as part of the reparation process, the woman had to undergo a physical examination during which it was discovered that she’s pregnant. Since September 11 the woman has been jailed at the Hafer Al Baten Central Jail for having an “illicit affair”. Due to the bad conditions in the prison, in December she suffered a miscarriage. After spending time in the hospital she was transferred back to prison.

The form of Sharia law applied in Saudi Arabia sentences woman who have had sex out of wedlock – even in cases of rape – to prison and lashing. If the woman is pregnant, the lashing is carried out after the end of the pregnancy. The number of lashes is determined in a hearing before the woman is freed. The Filipino woman told her mother over the phone that the usual number of lashings her fellow prisoners received after giving birth was a hundred lashes. The court date for this case is unknown, but according to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, it is set to happen this month.

The woman’s salary was the sole income of her family back home. Her three children, aged 15, 14 and 5 relied on their mother’s salary to afford their education. Since September they have been unable to go to school.

http://www.migrant-rights.org/2010/01/20/raped-filipino-worker-faces-lashing-after-miscarriage-in-prison/

[niyad]

1. and this country is an ally. . .

[donheld]

30. And there rich enough to buy a Senator or two

[blm]

43. HAH! Try Presidents Bush-Clinton-Bush....and entire GOP and DLC.

.

[newspeak]

41. doncha know fifteen out of nineteen alleged terrorists were from SA

and, at one time, they were investigating ties of funds being funneled to terrorists by some royal family members in SA. Did I mention that SA was not a great friend of Saddam? See how we're freeing those people in SA? Hell, even Iran allows their women to work, to drive and to vote--but, SA is our ally. Let me know about freeing the Iraqi people-where women could also vote, have a job, education and drive, also wear western clothes. so, much shite. Nobody better ever tell me how we're helping people become a democratic nation, while we do business with countries like SA.

[joeybee12]

2. Ah...the smell of democracy flowering in the Middle East...

...this makes me angry and sick to my stomach.

[timeforpeace]

14. Sharia law is Muslim law, not democracy. But you knew that.

[WinkyDink]

17. Wasn't it sarcasm, as in: "We're spreading democracy"?

[newspeak]

46. yes, I knew that

Sharia law holds a firm grasp on SA--extremism at it's finest. SA is a monarchy, that supposedly has local representation. Women are not allowed to vote in SA, thus half of it's citizens are not represented. I'm talking about how SA has been an ally and business partner of the US for quite some time--an ally that has a miserable human rights records. We've been sold how we are freeing the Iraqi people from their evil dictator and spreading democracy, while playing footsies with some who have financed terrorism. It seems business relationships trump human rights.

[msongs]

3. religion is wonderful eh? America's fundy rightists are envious nt

[The Straight Story]

26. Why do people always lessen the deeds of others by tying it to Americans?

Is that the law here? Nope.

Do MOST here want that? Nope.

Go ahead and keep making excuses for folks over there.

Truth is, such is not the law here, and won't be - but go ahead and try to tie it to folks here, as though it makes it ok over there.

[DaveinJapan]

35. So tell me if I have your argument right...

...you're saying "well, this is a barbaric and backward religion, surely that's not the case with MODERN, VIRTUOUS religions like the ones we have in America!".

Am I getting to the root of it?

If so, perhaps you are right. But when Church and State become one, when gay lovers and birth control users become criminals, when the wishes of the majority religions become paramount (and hey, there are pretty big Islamic populations in some states, aren't there?), well...I just wonder what the penalties will be.

Maybe not 100 lashes. But what about jail? Being forced to register as a sex offender for being caught with a condom? You don't think this is a possibility?

Oh, and what will the laws be against the non-religious?

And since the Supreme Court has decided it's a-okay for foreign interests to purchase American polititians now...isn't anyone concerned that governments like Saudi Arabia might just want a piece of the action as well? I mean...just because Christians are a majority NOW doesn't mean that will always be so.

[secondwind]

4. Disgusting.....simply disgusting.....

[abq e streeter]

5. +1 except disgusting is not a strong enough word

I don't think there is a strong enough word.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Hateful comes to mind, as does malicious. But still not quite strong enough.

[Ken Burch]

12. How about ...evilpellantauseuating?

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. I feel sick just trying to prounouce all that.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Unbelievably so!

[Ken Burch]

8. The U.S. needs to do the right thing and give this woman asylum

n/t.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. This is the third terrible anti-woman story I've read about SA in the past week...

I read another one here about a teenage girl being sentenced to a similar thing, and there's also the Australian woman who's abusive ex-husband is Saudi and they were living there when she left him because he nearly killed her, and her new husband was arrested and thrown in prison for 'destroying the family' or something equally idiotic, while the woman has been deported without her children. It's sickening the way women are treated there...

[Ken Burch]

11. It's all based on the alliance between the House of Saud

(BTW, isn't is PAST the time when a WHOLE COUNTRY should be named after one family?) and the Wahhabi religious crazies. The Wahhabi keep order and prevent any revolts against the Sauds in exchange for being allowed to keep everybody else living at their moralistic mercy.

And, because of the oil, no U.S. administration will EVER challenge any of this.

Our leaders are accepting the persecution of women just to keep America's cars gassed. Could ANYTHING ever be more amoral?

[mitchtv]

19. the US?

the Phillipines is who should fight this.

[Ken Burch]

20. Well yes, but they have their own vested interest

Filipino guest workers in Saudi Arabia send a lot of money home and Manila isn't gonna rock the boat with the House of Saud on anything as a result.

Even when those guest workers get raped, or, as has occurred as well, murdered.

[femrap]

38. Your comment

is that of a selfish, greedy, mindless, repugnant.

what would you think if the shoe were on the other foot? the rapist was to have his penis and testicles cut off?

Maybe you're incapable of compassion...a sadistic psychopath? Or merely another willfully ignorant misogynist?


Go away....

[mitchtv]

50. vice versa would not make it any less

the Phillipine responsibility, and duty. Tough shit you nasty ahole

[femrap]

51. you are a

widdle boy who needs a spanking. WAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Hippo_Tron]

31. How would we get her here?

I'd be all for offering her asylum but asylum isn't any good if she can't leave Saudi Arabia.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

45. See #44. -nt

[cascadiance]

9. Is this why Bush loves them so much?

[Canuckistanian]

13. I have no idea why any woman would travel to Saudi Arabia

Unless it's becuase of desperation for money.

Why we continue to enrich these misogynistic bastards is a mystery.

[Ken Burch]

21. It's mainly about money

Plus, there's a lot of bait and switch among rich Saudis who recruit guest workers in the Philippines. They promise them big money and a specific time contract, then get them there and basically enslave them, paying them little or no money and forbidding them to leave.

It's scandalous, but the Philippine government is too weak to do anything about it, especially since the guest worker thing gets a lot of Pinoys off of the domestic unemployment rolls.

[Hippo_Tron]

33. There really isn't any alternative anymore

In the process of holding up these regimes for so many years we've allowed them to stifle all opposition except for groups like Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. It's either a brutal dictatorship that's on our side or a brutal dictatorship that isn't on our side.

[femrap]

39. Oil.

Saudis don't work....they import labor. There are millions of poor people who travel to Saudi to work so they can provide for their families.

This has been going on for decades.

Americans go over there to work as well....big their wages are HUGE (engineers, architects, mechanics) and TAX FREE. Plus great R & R. American companies such as Bechtel and Halliburton worked very closely with the bin Ladens to build entire cities.

[Canuckistanian]

56. They seem to like slave labor, too

It seems to be SOP in the Arabian countries to confiscate passports of foreign workers.

Then they claim that the employee owes them "administrative fees" and dock them over half of their salary to pay for it.

This has been going on decades. I'm amazed that low-wage workers from the Phillipines, Bangla Desh, Pakistan and India haven't caught on that their already miserable lives are about to made WORSE by traveling to S.A. or the UAE.

You'd think that the horror stories would eventually get back to the villages where they recruit these slaves.

[femrap]

57. It may be that the Family

sends them even if they know this. They need the money more than they do the daughter.

The world sucks.

[Canuckistanian]

58. Yes, that's true

Daughters have been sold for less. The world (or at least some parts of it) does suck.

[TexasObserver]

15. Recommend. Human rights violator, our ally, Saudi Arabia.

We should have had regime change there in 2001.

[David Zephyr]

16. Kicking this up so all can see.

Thanks for the article and the link, ccharles000

[Odin2005]

18. Barbarians. Monsters.

:puke:

[Ken Burch]

22. And eternally protected by the petroleum-industrial complex.

[timeforpeace]

27. That's Sharia Law as provided by the Religion of Islam.

[Ken Burch]

34. That's Wahhabism, not Islam

Most Muslims would be sickened by this.

[femrap]

40. and wahhabis

are a sect of Sunnis which came into being in the 1800's. I compare them to the Mormons. They hate women...women are just for breeding. Period.

Women were used to find land mines....the donkeys walked behind the women since they are more valuable.

[Forkboy]

59. No, that's not Islam, though I'm not surprised you'd echo right wing ignorance.

As you are a right winger.

[Terra Alta]

23. women are treated worse than animals in Saudi Arabia.

It is so disgusting. These people are not our allies; they are barbarians.

I guess it is rather fitting that Dumbya is pals with the Saudi Royal Family. I wonder how he would appreciate it if Barbara or Jenna were treated that way.

[Sultana]

25. al-Saud women are an exception but everyone else is royally screwed

[niyad]

24. k and r

[JCMach1]

28. We are also supporting THEIR foreign policy in Yemen!

[Brickbat]

29. Thanks, Saudi Arabia! *gleaming smile*

Our allies are the bestest!

[old mark]

36. I can't wait till they start buying our politicians outright - then we'll see "Change". nt

[Ken Burch]

42. You don't NEED to wait.

Look at the last three Republican presidents.

[newspeak]

49. yeah, y'all remember that James Baker III represented the House of Saud

against those who lost loved ones on 9/11.

[femrap]

37. Goddess

I hate patriarchy.

May their oil wells run dry, the sand blow into their eyes, and their dicks be eaten by locust.

Just throwing out a few ideas of Karmic Justice is all.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

44. If Marine commandos raided the prisons to rescue all women in this situation...

..you'd see me hootering and hollering for them like there's no tomorrow.

But of course, that's never gonna happen. Their job is to make the world good for business, nothing more.

[Selatius]

47. I can't believe we call such a nation an ally. nt

[Ardent15]

48. I wish I could say I was suprised....

nt

[JackDragna]

52. Women's right are everybody's rights.

Anywhere you see such despicable things done to women, you can guarantee the boot heel is on the necks of a vast swath of the population. What an utterly disgusting culture.

[guardian]

53. ahhhh yes. Islam: the religion of peace. n/t

[bvar22]

54. Time for some Predator Air Strikes...

..on Saudi Arabia.

[newspeak]

55. extremism in any religion is damaging

years ago, I went to college with young women I'll call from the modern muslim faith. There are countries in the middle east where women have less restrictions-Iraq at one time was one of those countries. When Khomeini took over Iran, approximately twenty thousand women refused to put on the veil--that resulted in twenty thousand deaths, as a lesson. Not too many people in the US know about this event, since apparently our MSM thought it was not news worthy or they wanted to keep it under wraps.

The thought of women and children as chattel, gives me the willies. The supreme arrogance of some of these men, that they have some sort of entitlement or superiority over others, to me, is a sign of impotence, insecurity, and ignorance. But, it is their sheer arrogance and false righteousness that they use to manipulate others. Now after saying that, there are families in the muslim faith that are more conceptually liberal, than their extremist counterparts.