by Faraz Omar The recent
attention to the Qatif court case in which a gang raped victim was penalised
with lashes and imprisonment has re-surfaced criticism of the Saudi Judicial
system in the media. However the view circulated is to an extent biased and
one-sided. Often one gets misled by looking at just one side of the coin. International
newspapers carried the story with various headlines but a common theme – A gang
rape victim sentenced for lashes and imprisonment. A common reader might be
disgusted by the very thought, “How could a victim of a gang rape be penalised?
Could there be anything more inhuman than punishing an oppressed victim
herself? And all her guilt lies in being with a man she is not related to.” These
thoughts would be sufficient for most of us to come to a very satisfied
conclusion and justify the international media remarks such as ‘Barbaric Laws’
and ‘Inhuman interpretation of laws’.
Having
lived in Saudi Arabia and knowing it personally, I attempt to present the other
side of the coin. To give a background first, Saudi Arabia’s judicial system is
largely based on the Islamic Law. The Religious Scholars do accept that it’s
not purely based on Islamic Law and has its shortcomings, but yet largely and
fundamentally it follows the Islamic Law. One of the basics of Islamic Law is
that not only are all types of crimes prohibited, but all things which lead to such crimes are also prohibited.
And on the other hand, good things which prevent these crimes are much
encouraged. For example, Islam prohibits adultery and fornication i.e. sex
outside marriage, premarital sex etc. It views them as one of the biggest
social crimes. So it prohibits all things that lead to them such as gazing or staring
at the opposite sex, immodesty, dating etc. On the other hand it promotes and
encourages marriage. It doesn’t deny the basic instinct of a human being but it
regulates it into a manner that would preserve the well-being of a family;
promote modesty and protect the society from sexual crimes.
Having said
that let us look at the Qatif Girl’s case. She is a young married woman who had
an illegal relationship with a man. And this man threatened her that he would
publicise her pictures taken with him during the relationship. She was with
this man when they were abducted and raped. The pictures were handed over to
the police later on. So the Saudi judges first gave 10 months to 5 years
imprisonment to the rapists and 90 lashes to the woman as punishment for her
involvement in an illicit relationship. The atmosphere of Saudi Arabia is very
different than most countries. It is a very conservative and religious country.
Rapes are especially unheard of, however, as we see the society become more
western, such crimes are now increasing than before. Saudi religious leaders
take every step to preserve modesty and stop youth from getting into immoral
relationships. We know that most of the
sexual crimes are done by ‘known people’. ‘Date Abuse’ and ‘Date Rape’ where
women are subjected to the most sexual abuse is a major problem in the western
world. After clear evidence that pointed towards the illegal relationship of
the Qatif Woman surfaced which could have also been the cause leading to the
horrific gang rape, it became incumbent upon the Saudi authorities that they also
punish her for violating the country’s well known law. When the appeal for this
matter was publicised to create sympathy and draw criticism over the law, the
punishment was raised to 200 lashes and 6 months of imprisonment for the girl. [The
Appeals court also increased the punishment of the rapists to 2 – 7 years
imprisonment]. This raise of punishment, according to official sources, was due
to “her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media”
which is a pretty valid point.
The
punishment by lashes is also misunderstood as ‘barbaric’. As per law, while lashing, the
hand should not be raised such that the underarm is seen, which means that one
cannot do it with force. We see so much from the western hypocrisy that
they allow ‘the accused’, who are not yet convicted, to undergo severe torture.
Pain, extreme temperature conditions, psychological trauma and more unspeakable
tortures in prisons like ‘Guantanamo Bay’, Abu Ghraib etc are pretty common.
And all of this is before even being convicted. This is their hypocricy, they have
a law but their practice is different. Islamic Law is direct and straight
forward. It has clear described laws and punishments for those who violate it
without infringing their rights.
Again
everyone may not agree with this side of view, but there are many others who
agree to it. We keep talking about tolerating others views and accepting
diversity, but in practice we are really forcing our view of liberalisation and
freedom. So if some differ they are labelled as intolerant and oppressors. Copyrights iNarrators.com You may circulate this for free giving credit to iNarrators.
|
