By Frances Harrison
BBC News
An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of lashes and
added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.
The victim was initially punished for violating laws on segregation of
the sexes - she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the
attack.
When she appealed, the judges said she had been attempting to use the
media to influence them.
The attackers' sentences - originally of up to five years - were doubled.
Extra penalties
According to the Arab News newspaper, the 19-year-old woman, who is
from Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, was gang-raped 14 times in an
attack in the eastern province a year-and-a-half ago.
Seven men from the majority Sunni community were found guilty of the
rape and sentenced to prison terms ranging from just under a year to
five years.
But the victim was also punished for violating Saudi Arabia's laws on
segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating with
each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the
car of a strange man.
On appeal, the Arab News reported that the punishment was not reduced
but increased to 200 lashes and a six-month prison sentence.
The rapists also had their prison terms doubled. But the sentences are
still low considering they could have faced the death penalty.
The Arab News quoted an official as saying the judges had decided to
punish the girl for trying to aggravate and influence the judiciary
through the media.
The victim's lawyer was suspended from the case, has had his licence
to work confiscated, and faces a disciplinary session.
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