Brutal and sad.

HT to JWF:

The young Saudi woman who was sentenced to 90 lashes after being gang-raped tells her story. It's brutal, and sad, and leaves me with a renewed appreciation of 21st century in America.

But [her husband] stood by her, outraged at what the men had done and the fact they were going unpunished.

He complained to the police on four occasions before anything was done.

Good on him. Her brother tried to kill her for "shaming the family" by being raped, but at least she'll have somewhere to go if she survives the whipping. :( I'm sure they'll never have a normal married life...probably not a problem for him since he can have up to three more wives.


...and I'm going to be sending the link with the following quotes to everyone who tells me that George W. Bush is turning the U.S. into a "theocracy":

"...this is a country with no written penal law, in which the judges are religious scholars with very little formal legal training."

Legal reforms have been announced recently.

But life in the kingdom is still dominated by the religious police who work for the Commission For The Propagation Of Virtue And The Prevention Of Vice to enforce a strict Islamic lifestyle.

I'm not seeing an equivalence between "enforce a strict Islamic lifestyle"--to the point where the state abuses rape victims because they left the house without their husband--and putting a tree with lights in the statehouse. Seriously--get over yourselves.