Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has pardoned the victim of a gang-rape, whose sentencing to 200 lashes caused an international outcry, a Saudi newspaper said on Monday.
The daily al-Jazirah cited the Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammad al-Sheikh as saying the king had the right to issue pardons if it was in the ”public interest”.
The minister did not confirm if the pardon, reported from unnamed sources, was correct but the newspaper is close to the religious establishment who control the Justice Ministry. The Saudi monarch usually issues pardons to mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival which begins on Wednesday, but such announcements are published on the official Saudi Press Agency.
The 19-year-old Shi’ite woman was abducted and raped along with a male companion by seven men last year in a case that has drawn criticism from around the world.
Ruling according to Saudi Arabia’s strict reading of Islamic law, a court originally sentenced the woman to 90 lashes for being alone with an unrelated man and the rapists to prison terms of up to five years.
The Supreme Judicial Council last month increased the sentence to 200 lashes and six months in prison and ordered the rapists to serve between two years and nine years in prison.
United States President George Bush said earlier this month that King Abdullah ”knows our position loud and clear” on the case.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said last month he hoped the ruling would be changed.
Fawziya al-Oyouni, a women’s rights activist, welcomed the report but said it was not enough.
”We don’t want to rely simply on pardons. We need harsher sentences for the guilty parties and we want to feel safe,” she said, citing another rape case in the Eastern Province this month. – Reuters