110 HRES 857 IH: Calling on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to U.S. House of Representatives 2007-12-11 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 857 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

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.