Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to lashes

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to lashes
Mar 9 02:44 PM US/Eastern

By MAGGIE MICHAEL

Associated Press Writer

CAIRO (AP) - 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 attorney, 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 hard-liners 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 neighbors 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 hard-line Sunni Muslim establishment.

The "religion of peace" at its best.

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[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

You're right, someone just pulled "religion of peace" out of their ***, Islam is all about killing and raping women and children, sorry for not coming forward sooner.

 

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

You're right, someone just pulled "religion of peace" out of their ***, Islam is all about killing and raping women and children, sorry for not coming forward sooner.

What does lashing an elderly woman and sending her to jail for four months because she just wanted some bread to eat have anything to do with your post?

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

Once again, numb-nuts...this is like looking at the KKK as an accurate representation of christianity...your ignorant *** is too busy swallowing your head to see that

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

What does lashing an elderly woman and sending her to jail for four months because she just wanted some bread to eat have anything to do with your post?

What does that have to do with Islam?

 

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

Once again, numb-nuts...this is like looking at the KKK as an accurate representation of christianity...your ignorant *** is too busy swallowing your head to see that

Insults always help prove your point.

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

Insults always help prove your point.

I've already tried logic but apparently it has no effect on you.

 

[funkyab 10+ year member]

There are plenty examples out there from here in the U.S. where people have been persecuted and beaten by others who think they are doing their moral and religious obligation. Especially considering that among developed western countries the U.S. is one of if not the most religious countries. This obviously means that there are a lot of people out there making strange interpretations of Christianity.

Granted, full implementation of Sharia in all aspects of a political system is for sure wack!!

 

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

There are plenty examples out there from here in the U.S. where people have been persecuted and beaten by others who think they are doing their moral and religious obligation. Especially considering that among developed western countries the U.S. is one of if not the most religious countries. This obviously means that there are a lot of people out there making strange interpretations of Christianity.
Granted, full implementation of Sharia in all aspects of a political system is for sure wack!!

One difference is that this was done under thier law. Our courts don't sentence people to lashings.

 

[funkyab 10+ year member]

One difference is that this was done under thier law. Our courts don't sentence people to lashings.

Like I just said.

Granted, full implementation of Sharia in all aspects of a political system is for sure wack!!

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

greedy bitch... 2 loafs should be sufficient for her old scrawny ***...

 

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

Like I just said.

I was agreeing with you. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif



//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[funkyab 10+ year member]

Mobile **** dominates more than 70% of cell phone messages sent and received in Saudi Arabia. Must be ****in crazy to be a young dude there and not get to see or talk to women.

 

[perfecxionX 10+ year member]

Mobile **** dominates more than 70% of cell phone messages sent and received in Saudi Arabia. Must be ****in crazy to be a young dude there and not get to see or talk to women.

exactly why we can expect technology to provoke major social change in the next 30 years.

 

[funkyab 10+ year member]

exactly why we can expect technology to provoke major social change in the next 30 years.

AGREED!!