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       #Post#: 12363--------------------------------------------------
       Qatar convicts Dutch woman held 'after being raped'
       By: Kerry Date: June 14, 2016, 5:43 pm
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       How long are the United States and other Western nations going
       to stand by and do nothing about this sort of thing?  Why are we
       still doing business with nations who have such unjust legal
       systems?    Why aren't economic sanctions put on them to put the
       pressure on to change?  From the BBC
  HTML http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36516006?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link:<br
       />
       A court in Qatar has convicted a Dutch woman of having sex
       outside marriage after she told police she was raped. The
       22-year-old was handed a suspended sentence and fined $824
       (£580). She will also be deported.
       Her lawyer said her drink had been spiked at a Doha hotel in
       March and she had woken up in a stranger's flat, where she
       realised she had been raped. Her alleged attacker, who said the
       sex was consensual, was sentenced to 100 lashes for having sex
       outside marriage. He will be given a further 40 lashes for
       consuming alcohol.
       The woman has been detained since making the allegation three
       months ago, but her case only came to light over the weekend
       when her family decided to go public.
       The Dutch ambassador to Qatar, Yvette Burghgraef-van Eechoud,
       said after Monday's court hearing that she expected the woman to
       leave Qatar within days. "We will do everything to get her out
       of the country as soon as possible to where she wants to go,"
       she told AFP news agency. Court officials said she would be
       deported once the fine was paid.
       The woman was arrested by Qatari police immediately after
       reporting that she had been raped on the night of 15 March, as
       was the alleged assailant.  During a holiday in the emirate, she
       went out with a friend for drinks at a hotel where the sale of
       alcohol was permitted, according to her lawyer Brian Lokollo.
       "She went dancing but when she returned to the table after the
       first sip of her drink, she realised someone had added something
       to her glass," he said.  The woman did not feel very well and
       she later woke alone in an unfamiliar flat and "realised to her
       great horror that she had been raped", Mr Lokollo added.
       Doha-based lawyer Najeeb al-Nuaimi, Qatar's former justice
       minister, told the Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera the
       woman's lawyers would have had to prove there had been "no
       voluntary actions" between her and the man for him to be charged
       with rape.
       Even if they had been seen walking together, the authorities
       might have doubts any sexual activity was non-consensual and
       instead prosecute both for having sex outside marriage, which is
       known as "zina" under Islamic law, Mr Nuaimi said.
       Article 281 of Qatar's penal code states: "Whoever copulates
       with a female over 16 without compulsion, duress or ruse shall
       be punished with imprisonment for a term up to seven years. The
       same penalty shall also be imposed on the female for her
       consent."
       According to media reports, dozens of people convicted of zina
       have been given flogging sentences since 2004, including at
       least 45 between 2009 and 2011.
       The case of the Dutch woman raises further questions about how
       the Qatari authorities will deal with the thousands of Western
       tourists expected to travel to the country for the 2022 Fifa
       World Cup, many of whom may be unfamiliar with its laws.
       In 2013, a Norwegian woman in the United Arab Emirates was given
       a 16-month prison sentence for perjury, extramarital sex and
       drinking alcohol after she told police she had been raped. She
       was later pardoned and allowed to return to Norway.
       Certainly women should be aware of the dangers of drinking to
       excess.  Bad things surely can happen, but does that justify
       rape?
       You know it doesn't; and you know that a woman's walking with a
       man is not any kind of evidence that sex later was consensual.
       #Post#: 12366--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Qatar convicts Dutch woman held 'after being raped'
       By: Brad Date: June 15, 2016, 6:27 pm
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       Sharia law tends to be unfair in justice, based on gender.
       And it doesn't give more privileges to foreign women who aren't
       Islamic.   If I was a woman, I would never visit any country
       that held such laws.
       #Post#: 12367--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Qatar convicts Dutch woman held 'after being raped'
       By: Kerry Date: June 17, 2016, 4:46 am
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       Neither do I.    It makes me wonder why women do go there.
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