Saudi woman gets death penalty for adultery, while her male partner gets 100 lashes

A Saudi Arabian woman convicted of adultery will be stoned to death, but the man she was caught committing adultery with will suffer a lesser punishment of 100 lashes. The convicted adulterers, a married 45-year-old maid in Riyadh, and her partner, a single Sri Lankan migrant worker, are receiving very different punishments for the same ‘crime’ under Sharia Law.

Spokesman for the Foreign Employment Bureau, Upul Deshapriya, told Reuters:

She has accepted the crime four times in the courts. But the Foreign Employment Bureau has hired lawyers and have appealed against the case.The appeal is going on. Also from the foreign ministry side, they are in negotiation with the Saudi government on a diplomatic level.

Saudi Arabia follows Sharia Law, which has often been criticized by human rights groups for being dated and inhumane. It utilizes an antiquated and cruel system of physical punishments, such as lashes and beheading, for crimes of varying degrees. Under Sharia, the death penalty is the consequence for crimes such as adultery (only for married women, however) and drug smuggling, and apostasy.

According to a recent statement from Amnesty International, more than 150 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia this year, often by being publicly beheaded. Many of the victims are foreign guest workers from poor countries who do not speak Arabic well and do not understand the complexities of Sharia Law.

Featured image via Flickr

Isadora Teich

Isadora Teich is a freelance writer and digital nomad who has worked in web marketing, digital branding, entertainment, and news. When not writing or traveling she is probably doing yoga, learning Spanish, or experimenting in the kitchen.

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