[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 857 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 857

  Calling on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take immediate actions to 
  drop all charges against the Saudi rape victim known as the ``Qatif 
                                Girl''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 11, 2007

Ms. Shea-Porter submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                  to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Calling on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take immediate actions to 
  drop all charges against the Saudi rape victim known as the ``Qatif 
                                Girl''.

Whereas in 2006, an anonymous 19-year-old Saudi woman from Saudi Arabia's 
        eastern province of Qatif was attacked by seven Saudi men and gang-
        raped;
Whereas the woman, known to Saudi media as the ``Qatif Girl'', initiated a legal 
        complaint against her attackers;
Whereas later in 2006 the ``Qatif Girl'' was sentenced by the Saudi courts to 
        six months in jail and 90 lashes for being alone in a car with a man she 
        was not related to at the time she was attacked;
Whereas she appealed that ruling and the judges ruled on her appeal on November 
        13, 2007, increasing her sentence to 200 lashes and six months in jail;
Whereas according to press reporting, the judges informed the rape victim that 
        they increased her punishment because of ``her attempt to aggravate and 
        influence the judiciary through the media'';
Whereas in response to an American reporter's question on November 20, 2007, 
        Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal pledged that ``the Saudi judiciary 
        will review the case'';
Whereas Saudi government authorities have ordered the woman, her lawyer, and her 
        husband to stop talking to the press and have refused to provide the 
        woman or her husband with a copy of the verdict in her case, further 
        delaying the appellate process;
Whereas the trial and conviction of the ``Qatif Girl'' will dissuade future 
        victims of rape from coming forth to accuse their attackers; and
Whereas the Saudi law forbidding a woman from being alone in a car with men she 
        is not related to is an anachronistic assault on women's dignity and 
        should be abolished: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the Saudi judiciary for convicting the ``Qatif 
        Girl'' on the anachronistic charge of being alone in a car with 
        a man she is not related to, as well as for the inhumane 
        punishment to which she was sentenced;
            (2) calls on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take immediate 
        action to overturn the conviction and sentence and to drop all 
        charges against the Saudi rape victim known as the ``Qatif 
        Girl'';
            (3) urges the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take the steps 
        necessary to ensure that victims of rape are not penalized for 
        bringing forth allegations against their attackers;
            (4) calls upon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to abolish its 
        law forbidding a woman from being alone in a car with men she 
        is not related to, as well as other laws that compromise 
        women's freedom, dignity, and equality; and
            (5) expresses sympathy for the ``Qatif Girl'' for her 
        physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her rapists and of 
        the Saudi judicial system.
                                 <all>