Qatif Rape Case - Public Response

Public Response

• Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Watch called on Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz to immediately void the verdict and drop all charges against the rape victim and to order the court to end its harassment of her lawyer.
• Then Sen. Hillary Clinton - "The latest example is the punishment of 200 lashes that a Saudi Arabian court has given to a victim - the victim - of a gang rape. This is an outrage." Clinton said in a statement.
• Then Sen. Barack Obama - "That the victim was sentenced at all is unjust, but that the court doubled the sentence because of efforts to call attention to the ruling is beyond unjust, I strongly urge the Department of State to condemn this ruling." Obama wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
• Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal - During the Annapolis Peace Summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters that he hoped the sentence would be revised, adding that "the ruling was used to vilify his government even though it was not responsible because courts are independent". "and the disturbing thing is that such usage of individual acts are meant to insult the Saudi people and the Saudi government."
• The Saudi Ministry of Justice's official statement - In an unprecedented step and a rather historic reaction from a governmental body in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Justice has issued a statement on the 24th of November 2007 through the official Saudi Press Agency "welcoming objective criticism that benefits the general good, away from emotional responses."
• Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir - In a statement that was sent to CNN, Al-Jubeir stated that "justice will prevail."
• The U.S. State Department - "The State Department voiced "astonishment" at the sentence, but stopped short of calling for it to be changed".