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Saudi Arabia's system of criminal justice has had a history of arbitrary neglect and violation of women's human rights that goes far beyond simple discrimination.
Despite the government's notorious resistance to change, there is no reason for it to remain that way. Besides contradicting the Saudi government's position on human rights, the abuses conflict with the Islamic law that forms the basis of Saudi justice.
A typical example is that of Nieves, a Filipina married mother of two children who worked in Riyadh. On November 9, 1992, she and a female friend joined a mixed group of men and women for a birthday dinner. In the middle of their meal, a squad of religious police arrested them all, and forced Nieves to sign a confession in Arabic, a language she could not read, stating that Nieves was prostituting herself to one of the men. In court Nieves denied the charge, but on the basis of her signed confession she was convicted of prostitution and sentenced to 25 days in jail and 60 lashes, with no opportunity for appeal. Since the men could not be accused of prostitution, they remained unpunished. While the trial and punishment certainly have a basis in Saudi law (and, by proxy, Islamic law), a forced confession was blatantly illegal.
Abuse of women's human...