Reuters reports Saudi Arabia defended a court's decision to sentence a woman who was gang raped to 200 lashes and six months in prison.
The 19-year-old Shi'ite woman and a male companion were abducted and raped by seven men in 2006. According to Saudi law, the woman was originally sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone with an unrelated man, and 10 months to five years in jail for each of the rapists, but the sentence was increased last week because the woman provoked response from the media.
The court also disciplines the girl's attorney, Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem, forcibly removing him from the case for discussing it with the media.
The US State Department made a rare rebuke of the ruling, and New York-based Human Rights Watch has made a direct appeal to King Abdullah to intervene on the girl's behalf.
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