The AP reports that on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry issued a statement defending a controversial sentence under Islamic law imposed by Saudi courts on a rape victim. The victim and her male companion were abducted from a shopping mall parking lot by seven men. Last week, U.S. Democratic Presidential candidates, human rights groups and the State Department all criticized the sentence of 200 lashes and six months in jail. The victim violated Saudi Arabia's Sharia law requiring women to have a male relative with them when they are in public. (CNN). The woman was originally sentenced to 90 lashes, but the sentence was increase on appeal. Her attackers were sentenced last month to two to nine years in prison. The Saudi statement issued Saturday says that the woman was partially dressed in a parked car with her lover when they were attacked. It said the sentence followed the "the book of God and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad". The woman's lawyer, whose license has was suspended after he filed the appeal, faces a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Justice next month.
UPDATE: Arab News reported on Tuesday that Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, lawyer for the woman who was sentenced, will now file a defamation suit through the Ministry of Culture and Information because of the statement by the Ministry of Justice that included a claim that the rape victim had confessed to having an illegal affair.
UPDATE: AP reported on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia's Prince Saud al-Faisal, in a statement issued while he is in the U.S., said that "the Saudi judiciary will review the case".
UPDATE: On Jan 21, 2008, CNN reported that lawyer Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem told CNN that the Saudi Jusice Ministry has reinstated his license to practice law. In December, the Justice Ministry claimed that the lawyer's license had never been revoked.
