Say what? A 13-year-old girl has been sentenced to 90 lashes and two months of prison? For what?! Bringing her cell phone to school!!! This is insane. I mean, what else can you call it?
This - a punishment like that - in a country where every single person is glued to their mobile phone 24/7/365?! Go to a bank - men are talking on their mobiles. Go to a shop - men are talking on their mobiles. Go to the Commissary - girls are talking on their mobiles. My gosh, if you took mobiles away from everyone over here there would be such withdrawal that this place would come to a standstill! No. I am not kidding. You can't do anything here and have the full attention of the other person you are dealing with without the interruption of that person's mobile. Why do I say that person's mobile? Because I rarely - almost never - use my mobile.
So now, a 13-year-old girl is going to go to prison for two months and receive 90 lashes for taking her mobile phone to school. Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. Something about how mobiles are banned from girls' schools - of course we all know the reasons behind that [and even if you don't know the reasons, just nod your head and mutter, "umm hmm"] and her assaulting the school principal which apparently took place prior to her mobile phone being discovered. There has got to be more to the story than we are being told. Did she take photos of her classmates? In the bathroom, or something? Or, is this punishment being given for her assault of her prinicpal? [Do you have any idea how common that is over here? Assaulting the principal, or a teacher? Google it.]
I know Saudi Arabia is strict and that its judicial system is swift but I cannot recall a 13-year-old - certainly never a 13-year-old GIRL - receiving such a punishment for something as innocuous as taking her mobile to school in the entire seven years that we've been here. Heck, grown men have committed much more serious crimes and even they are not punished as severely.
Saw it at JammieWearingFool's place, first. He said almost the same thing I did, "The punishment is harsher than that dished out ot some robbers and looters." Yeah. No kidding.
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Sabra, I just saw this on Drudge and I instantly came to your blog for confirmation. Seriously, WTF???
ReplyDeletePlease post a followup story about how many fewer lashes others have received for worse crimes. I think I remember one for 50 lashes for being in the company of a man not a brother or relative, but 90?? And she's 13! this will kill her.
Agreed: there's more to the story. The papers there never try very hard to tell more than they are told to tell. One might guess that she was taking pictures in the bathroom, or one might guess that the girl's father failed to be born into the Right Family. When the holes in the narrative are so obvious we can fill them in with our own predjudice: "The little tramp must have been speaking to a married man," "she was texting answers to the examination," "she was late in her blackmail payments to the teacher," "the Council needed to make an example of someone and she was singled out at random."
ReplyDeleteUh, the punishment was not for having the cell phone - despite most MSM outlets having that in the headline. Seems she was violent. How violent, and why, I haven't found.
ReplyDeleteBut it is still a disproportionate punishment, unless she managed to inflict life-threatening harm rather than what I suspect amounted to a slap.
John A - I said that in my post. That it had something to do with assaulting her principal - not just taking her cell phone to school. Still. 90 lashes and 2 months prison? You can do a heck of a lot more, here, crime-wise, and not get that kind of punishment!
ReplyDeleteBy the way - the photo you have. Good one. Umm-hmm.
Remember, the Saudis are our friends. /sarc
ReplyDelete