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Saudi Court Sentences Elderly Widow To Prison and Lashes For Meeting With Men

By Howard M. Friedman

Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and local Saudi courts are again under attack for their strict enforcement of Islamic law. CNN and the London Telegraph yesterday reported on the conviction of a 75-year old widow who was charged by religious police with meeting in her home with two unrelated 24-year old men-- one of whom was her deceased husband's nephew. They were bringing her several loaves of bread. Syrian-born Khamisa Sawadi has been supported by neighbors since her husband's death. She was sentenced to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the Kingdom for mingling with men who are not immediate relatives. The two men were also sentenced to prison terms and lashes. Sawadi had unsuccessfully argued that her husband's nephew was considered here son under Islamic law because she had nursed him as an infant. Sawadi's lawyer, Abdel Rahman al-Lahem, says he will to appeal the conviction.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).