Court Orders 40 Lashes For Elderly Woman

A 75-year-old Syrian woman has been sentenced by a Saudi Arabian court to 40 lashes, four months in prison, and deportation for having two unrelated men in her house.

Last year a member of the Saudi religious police entered Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi‘s home and found two younger men with her, Fahd and Hadian. Fahd, 24, said he was not breaking the law because Sawadi breast-fed him as a baby and is considered to be a son to her in Islam. His friend Hadian was accompanying him to deliver bread to Sawadi. Both men were arrested. Fahd was sentenced to four month in prison and 40 lashes and Hadian was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes. The judge who made the ruling claims that it’s been proven that Fahd is not Sawadi’s son through breast-feeding. Sawadi insists he is and says she will appeal the case. “[This case] made everybody angry because this is like a grandmother,” said Saudi women’s rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider. “Forty lashes — how can she handle that pain? You cannot justify it.” [CNN]