In a shocking verdict, a Saudi Court has ordered a gang rape victim to undergo 200 lashes and six months in prison for "being in the car of an unrelated male" when the crime was committed.
The 19-year-old victim was initially ordered to undergo 90 lashes by judges from the Qatif General Court, but the case was referred back to an Appeals Court after her lawyer had urged a harsher punishment for assaulters, the Arab News reported.
In its verdict, the court, which punished the victim for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape", also suspended her lawyer.
The seven rapists, whose previous sentences ranged from 10 months to five years in prison, also had their prison terms increased to between two and nine years. The verdict came in as a shock to everybody.
A source at the Qatif General Court said the judges had informed the rape victim that the reason behind doubling her punishment was "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media", the report added.
Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islamic doctrine known as Wahhabism and forbids unrelated men and women from associating with each other, bans women from driving and forces them to cover head-to-toe in public.
