100 Lashes for Being Raped in Saudi Arabia

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-01-22 17:32:00 UTC
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In Saudi Arabia, "victim-blaming" rises to particularly draconian heights: rape victims are flogged for engaging in "illicit sex."

A Filipino woman who the media have dubbed "Camille" traveled to Saudi Arabia to work and send money home to her family. While there, a coworker raped her. Did she go to the authorities? No. She kept her mouth shut -- because she knew that the conservative sharia law would deem her a criminal for having sex out of wedlock. The distinction between having sex and being raped is lost on the Saudi government.

So Camille was forced to let her perpetrator roam free, able to attack other women, in order to protect herself from a second assault, this time by the government. Finding the country had a particularly bitter taste for her, Camille arranged to get safely home as soon as possible. But not -- her employer said -- without a medical exam.

The doctor discovered she was pregnant. With no husband around, and the possibility of immaculate conception on the slim side, he concluded that she'd had sex outside of marriage. To jail with her!

Four month into her pregnancy, Camille suffered a miscarriage due to the harsh prison conditions. This works just fine for the Saudi government, which was waiting for her to give birth so it could lash her for the terrible sin of being attacked and raped. And, hey, as far as they're concerned, miscarriage works too. Camille awaits the implementation of her sentence: 100 lashes for being raped.

Criminalizing consensual sex is bad enough; punishing a rape victim a second time, and deterring her from reporting the actual crime of assault, is absolutely horrific. Countries around the world need to do a better job of protecting women and stopping the victim-blaming mentality that cares more about flogging women -- literally -- than stopping rape.

Photo credit: purpleslog

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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