The Qatif rape case (Arabic: قضية اغتصاب فتاة القطيف) is a much-publicized gang rape case. The victims were a Shia^[1] young woman from Qatif (Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia) and her male companion, who were kidnapped and gang-raped by seven Saudi men in mid-2006. A Saudi Sharia court sentenced the perpetrators to varying sentences involving 100 to 1,000 lashes and imprisonment up to ten years for four of them. The court also sentenced the two victims to six months in prison and 90 lashes each for "being alone with a man who is not a relative" in a parked car. The appeals court doubled the victims' sentences in late 2007 as punishment for the heavy media coverage of the event in the international press regarding the treatment of women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Saudi judicial practices. In December 2007, the Saudi King Abdullah issued an official pardon for the two victims, citing his ultimate authority to revise "discretionary" punishments in accordance with the public good, although the pardon did not reflect any lack of confidence in the Saudi justice system or in the fairness of the verdicts.

Rape

The victim told Human Rights Watch and an Associated Press reporter, Farida Deif:^[2]

I knew him when I was ten, but I only knew him through telephone conversations, his voice was all I knew about him. He then threatened to tell my family about it if I didn’t give him a picture of myself. Months later I asked him to give it back since I got engaged to be married, so we agreed to meet near the City Plaza mall located fifteen minutes away from my house. When we were heading back, a car stopped right in front of his and two men carrying knives came out. I told him not to unlock the doors but he did, and I started screaming. They drove for a long time while we were forced to keep our heads down. When we arrived I noticed a lot of palm trees. They took me out to a dark area and forced me to take off my clothes. The first man with the knife raped me. He destroyed me. I thought about running away but where could I go to looking like this? Another man came in and did the same. I was about to faint. For more than two hours I asked them to leave me alone, I begged them. The third man was violent and the fourth almost strangled me. The fifth and sixth were even more brutal. When the seventh man finished I couldn't feel myself anymore. He was so fat I couldn't breathe. Then they all did it again. When they dropped me home I couldn't walk, my mom opened the door and said I looked sick. I couldn't tell anyone and for a whole week I couldn't eat, but later I went to the hospital.^[3]

In other interviews, more of the victims' relatives spoke up about how the assailants used pictures they took of them during the rape and they taunted her about the phone numbers they got from her cell phone and threatened her and her family. Parts of these interviews were published in Saiydati magazine.

Court's findings and verdicts

Media attention

In a special report, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation channel covered the case in a show widely anticipated by many Saudi audiences.^[13] The show aired a live debate between al-Lahem and Ministry of Justice consultant and former judge Abdul-Mohsen Al-Obaikan.^[14] The female victim's husband participated via phone. The husband defended his wife, stating: "I'm not lacking in manhood or an Arab man's honor for defending a so-called 'cheating wife'." He also said, "I feel that in this catastrophe she exercised bad judgment by meeting this man, but how can you [Al-Obaikan] or anyone say she committed adultery?"^[15] In other interviews, he showed further support of his wife and said that "she shocked him when she insisted on pursuing justice although she is facing a harsh penalty." He also expressed his worries over her deteriorating physical and mental health.

By late November 2007, she was under effective house arrest and forbidden to speak at the risk of being taken into custody at any time. Her family's movements were being monitored by the religious police and their telephones were tapped.^[16]

Royal pardon

On December 17, 2007, Saudi newspapers reported that King Abdullah had issued a pardon for the woman, citing his ultimate authority as monarch to overrule "discretionary" punishments (punishments not expressly prescribed by Islamic legal canon) in accordance with the public good. However, he maintained that the pardon did not reflect any lack of confidence in the Saudi justice system or the initial verdicts, and in fact the King trusted "that the verdicts are just and fair."^[17]

Although the pardon was welcomed by the victim, human rights activists voiced concern that it was not a practical solution to the problem, as "the pardon means that she did something wrong and was kindly pardoned later." They called for reform of the law and clear legislation that differentiates between rape and adultery, as there are many similar cases which do not receive such international exposure and not every victim will get a royal pardon afterward.^[18]

Public response

• Human Rights Watch—Human Rights Watch called on Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz to immediately void the verdict and drop all charges against the rape victim and to order the court to end its harassment of her lawyer.^[19]
• Then Sen. Hillary Clinton—"The latest example is the punishment of 200 lashes that a Saudi Arabian court has given to a victim—the victim—of a gang rape. This is an outrage." Clinton said in a statement.^[20]
• Then Sen. Barack Obama—"That the victim was sentenced at all is unjust, but that the court doubled the sentence because of efforts to call attention to the ruling is beyond unjust, I strongly urge the Department of State to condemn this ruling." Obama wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.^[21]
• Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal—During the Annapolis Peace Summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters that he hoped the sentence would be revised, adding that "the ruling was used to vilify his government even though it was not responsible because courts are independent".^[22] "and the disturbing thing is that such usage of individual acts are meant to insult the Saudi people and the Saudi government."^[23]
• The Saudi Ministry of Justice's official statement—In an unprecedented step and a rather historic reaction from a governmental body in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Justice has issued a statement on the 24th of November 2007 through the official Saudi Press Agency "welcoming objective criticism that benefits the general good, away from emotional responses."^{[24][25][26][27]}
• Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir—In a statement that was sent to CNN, Al-Jubeir stated that "justice will prevail."^[28]
• The U.S. State Department—The State Department voiced "astonishment" at the sentence, but stopped short of calling for it to be changed.

See also

• Rape in Saudi Arabia
• Women's rights in Saudi Arabia

References