[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7592]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE FLOGGING OF GRANDMA

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last week was International Women's 
Day to proclaim human rights for all women.
  Obviously, Saudi Arabia didn't get the memo. In the name of religion, 
the official Muslim religious police arrested a 75-year-old woman for 
accepting bread from two young men. The crime: She had the arrogance to 
be with males who were not blood kin.
  To the religious police in Saudi Arabia, her behavior cannot be 
tolerated. So the 75-year-old woman was hauled off to court, and a 
judge ordered her to receive, get this, 40 lashes and 4 months in jail 
with deportation to follow. And the two boys who were kind to her by 
giving her bread: lashes and prison for them too.
  The official Muslim religious police are feared by women in Saudi 
Arabia because they enter homes to enforce dress codes, prayer times, 
and segregation of the sexes. Flogging women in the name of religion 
for accepting bread from young men seems to be anti-social action and 
contrary to basic human rights.
  So much for the idea of helping the widows and the orphans. Maybe 
next year grandmas in Saudi Arabia can celebrate International Women's 
Day without being flogged by their government.
  And that's just the way it is.

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