Saudi bristles over international criticism on rape case, contemplates reform

Saudi Arabia is bristling under international criticism over the sentencing of a woman rape victim to prison and 200 lashes, insisting the West should butt out of its legal system. But the case has raised voices for change in the kingdom's Islamic courts.

The punishing of the "Girl of Qatif" _ as the rape victim is known, after her hometown in eastern Saudi Arabia _ has seemed mind-boggling to Westerners, much like the past week's trial of a British teacher in Sudan, who was convicted of insulting Islam after her students named a teddy bear Muhammad.

But in both countries, the cases are enmeshed in politics as well as religion. In Saudi Arabia, …