Makkah Court of Cassation rejected a General Court's ruling to sentence a 30-year-old married man to death for kidnap and rape of a 40-year-old woman. The case was sent back to the General Court for a re-trial for a lesser punishment. A General Court three-judge panel handed down the death penalty to the man as corporeal punishment (or Hiraba in Islamic law) for a heinous crime that appeared to be a war on the basic values of society, the ruling statement argued. The woman was on her way to pick up her daughter from school when the man pulled over to offer her a ride for SR10. She accepted the paid ride. But on the way, he stopped at a friend's place to allegedly grab something and disappeared for a while. He came back and forced the woman out of the car into his accomplice's place. He beat her up, tore her clothes, and raped her. His accomplice was said to have assaulted her too as the man kept filming them. The woman was then thrown out of the place, going directly to the police to report the case. The man was then arrested and sent to trial where he was convicted of raping the woman. Two of the judges endorsed the death penalty while the third one had his own reservations on the ruling. A source at the General Court said that the man will be re-trialed, but the General Court is expected to uphold the death penalty. Earlier in Nov. 2007, a general court in the Eastern Province punished a 21-year-old victim, known as Qatif's girl, of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail. She was charged with going out with an unrelated man when the two were attacked and raped by seven other men in 2006. In Dec. 2007, King Abdullah interceded and pardoned the girl. The King, last year, approved a new body of laws regulating the judicial system in the country on the basis of Shariah.– Okaz __
