Family Refuses to Take Home 18-Year-Old Rape Victim
Badea Abu Al-Naja; 21/5/08
Neighbors of Maryam, an 18-year-old girl who was raped in a pedestrian tunnel here recently, are claiming that her family will not take her back because of the stigma associated with victims of sex crimes. Maryam’s family would not speak to Arab News. Meanwhile, local police claim they have no cause to investigate the crime or find the perpetrators unless they receive complaints from the victim or her family. “We cannot do anything about the alleged sexual assault that she suffered so long as we do not receive a formal complaint from her or her relatives,” Makkah police spokesman Maj. Abdul Mohsen Al-Mayman told Arab News yesterday.
See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=110086&d=21&m=5&y=2008
Tags: Human Rights, Saudi Arabia, Womens Rights