Saudi Rulers: Rape Victim Caused Crime

Under international fire for sentencing a gang-rape victim to 200 lashes, the Saudi government yesterday said the woman violated Islamic law and caused the crime to take place by having an "illegitimate relationship" with a man not her husband. The rapists allegedly found the woman "in a compromising situation" with a man on a beach, CNN reports.

Her attorney has said she met a male friend to retrieve a photograph. Though the woman was unmarried at the time, the court described her actions as adultery. Nobody pressed charges in the case until the woman's husband found out about the rapes—and what the Saudi government terms "his wife's affair and adultery"—three months later, when the seven rapists began bragging in the local community. (More Saudi rape victim stories.)