long and useless

Why they punished a rape victim.

I've been following this thread for a couple days now, but this newest article got my hackles up. A particularly worrisome part was this:

"We would like to state that the system has ensured them the right to object to the ruling and to request an appeal," the statement continued, "without resorting to sensationalism through the media that may not be fair or may not grant anyone any rights, and instead may negatively affect all the other parties involved in the case."

There's an underlying threat implicit in the statement; essentially, aren't they saying that if dissenting opinions don't keep their mouths shut, things can only get worse for the woman? One point in the article was that the woman was originally sentenced to ninety lashes and the amount was increased to two hundred after she spoke to the press. That means the additional one hundred and ten lashes have nothing to do with the rape itself or violating any law. Not only that, but her lawyer has had his law license revoked for the time being. How can the Saudi Arabia justice system see this as fair, even under their own laws?