Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to lashes

[Guest guest]

Going back to the discussion about sterilization and humane behavior, I had

asked about how we would feel if we ived in Biblical times where stoning was

considered normal.

Along comes this article today...

Administrator

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090309/world/saudi_woman_sentenced

Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to lashes

Mon Mar 9, 4:39 PM

By Maggie , The Associated Press

CAIRO - A 75-year-old widow in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 40 lashes and

four months in jail for mingling with two young men who are not close relatives,

drawing new criticism for the kingdom's ultraconservative religious police and

judiciary.

The woman's lawyer told The Associated Press on Monday that he would appeal the

verdict against Khamisa Sawadi, who is Syrian but was married to a Saudi. The

lawyer, Abdel Rahman al-Lahem, said the verdict issued March 3 also demands that

Sawadi be deported after serving her sentence.

He said his client, who is not serving her sentence yet, was not speaking with

the media, and he declined to provide more details about the case.

The newspaper Al-Watan said the woman met with the two 24-year-old men last

April after she asked them to bring her five loaves of bread at her home in

al-Chamil, a city north of the capital, Riyadh.

Al-Watan identified one man as Fahd al-Anzi, the nephew of Sawadi's late

husband, and the other as his friend and business partner Hadiyan bin Zein. It

said they were arrested by the religious police after delivering the bread. The

men also were convicted and sentenced to lashes and prison.

The court said it based its ruling on " citizen information " and testimony from

al-Anzi's father, who accused Sawadi of corruption.

" Because she said she doesn't have a husband and because she is not a Saudi,

conviction of the defendants of illegal mingling has been confirmed, " the court

verdict read.

Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islam prohibits men and women who are

not immediate relatives from mingling. It also bars women from driving, and the

playing of music, dancing and many movies also are a concern for hardliners who

believe they violate religious and moral values.

Complaints from Saudis have been growing that the religious police and courts

are overstepping their broad mandate and interfering in people's lives, and

critics lambasted the handling of Sawadi's case.

" How can a verdict be issued based on suspicion? " Laila Ahmed al-Ahdab, a

physician who also is a columnist for Al-Watan, wrote Monday. " A group of people

are misusing religion to serve their own interests. "

Sawadi told the court 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 didn't

provide evidence. In Islamic tradition, breast-feeding establishes a degree of

maternal relation, even if a woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers.

Sawadi commonly asked her neighbours for help after her husband died, said

journalist Bandar al-Ammar, who reported the story for Al-Watan. In a recent

article, he wrote that he felt the need to report the case " so everybody knows

to what degree we have reached. "

The woman's conviction came a few weeks after King Abdullah fired the chief of

the religious police and a cleric who condoned killing owners of TV networks

that broadcast " immoral content. " The move was seen as part of an effort to

weaken the hardline Sunni Muslim establishment.