JEDDAH, 27 July 2006 — A Shariah Court in Jeddah sentenced a Saudi woman on Tuesday to four years in jail and 2,000 lashes after having been found guilty of charges relating to prostitution and selling alcohol.
The 22-year-old woman’s male pimp was also found guilty of similar charges and will be given the same sentence. The authorities confiscated a Mercedes Benz, two cell phones, bottles of alcohol and money, said to be proceeds earned from prostitution, found in the possession of both the pimp and the woman.
The General Prosecution had appealed to the court to give the woman, named Kholoud, and her pimp a more severe sentence. The appeal came after the prosecution learned that the man had a previous criminal record and was in the Kingdom despite orders to deport him.
The prosecution presented eyewitness testimonies and other evidence from a sting operation. Evidence showed to the court included alcohol, condom found in the woman’s purse and various evening dresses used by her while meeting clients.
During the trial, the prosecution told the court about how the woman arrived with alcohol at an apartment in the Rawdah district of Jeddah at 1 a.m. on Feb. 15. The woman had been asked to arrive there by her pimp who had been given money by undercover policemen. When the prostitute realized that the customers were in fact police officers she tried to escape by jumping from a second floor window.
According to residents that live in the area, the woman was seen trying to jump from the window shouting for help. She said someone was trying to rape her.
“I noticed that many people were gathered round the building. When I went there and looked, I saw a girl who was shouting and standing near the second floor window,” said a man, who preferred not to be named, to the Sayidaty magazine.
“There was someone else with her in the room trying to pull her inside by the hair. But she managed to free herself and jumped from the second floor landing on some curious bystanders who had gathered downstairs,” he added.
The eyewitness said that seven police patrol cars and a GMC Suburban belonging to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice were outside the building when the incident occurred.
“There were so many people that had gathered at the scene. Several youths even tried to help her run away but police were asking for identification papers and dispersed the crowd,” he said.
The eyewitness added that the blonde woman, dressed in jeans and a shirt, was put into an ambulance after police officers had arrested her. Police later confirmed that the woman was taken to hospital after her family had been notified.
Col. Ali Al-Quraiqiri, from the Salama Police Department, said that the case was a “highly sensitive one.”
He refused to say whether more people were involved in the secret prostitution den.
Director’s Comment:
It would be useful to know whether “Kholoud” - described here as blonde - was trafficked to this region. Also, that her hair was being pulled (by police?) in this description seems a unique identifier in terms of violence typically suffered by prostituted women and youth (whether at the hands of police, pimps, or users).
Also notable: the fact that while in this case, the woman’s pimp was also prosecuted, he evidently received the same sentence as did she. I believe this woman ought not to have been prosecuted at all; rather, that she should have been offered an opportunity to safely recount the manner in which she had come to be in these circumstances. If, then, it had been established that her participation was compelled (and particularly, if she had been specifically trafficked), she ought to have been offered resources as a crime victim, and, if appropriate, encouraged to testify against her pimp and all others complicit in her being prostituted.
Test comment #2, new thread