The Saudi judiciary on Tuesday defended a court verdict that sentenced a 19-year-old victim of a gang rape to six months in jail and 200 lashes because she was with an unrelated male when they were attacked.

Initially, a Shiite Muslim woman had been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicted of violating Saudi Arabia’s rigid Islamic law requiring segregation of the sexes.

How sad the treatment meted out to the 19 year old lady in question.

But in considering her appeal of the verdict, the Saudi General Court increased the punishment.

It also roughly doubled prison sentences for the seven men convicted of raping the woman, Saudi news media said last week.

The girl in the center of this picture is Atia Abawi and the girl wearing the denim jacket is Banafsha.

Banafsha, a 11-years old, poor girl from Afghanistan has a father who is a heroin addict. Her mother stays home taking care of her baby brothers and there is no one to take care of their family. So that Banafsha and Atia Abawi begs everyday in the street for bread, when they are in the age to recieve education.

In the city of Kabul of Afghanistan, you will see a lot of misery, poverty, destruction, hopelessness, and loss of dignity for survival everywhere.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Iraq’s capital Saturday on an unannounced trip coinciding with a surprising surge in insurgent attacks.

Clinton held a town meeting with Iraqi nationals and was with meeting with U.S. and Iraqi leaders, where she will get a sense of why there have been a lot of attacks in Iraq and where violence had deluged over recent months.

Clinton also was to meet separately with Iraqi women, nongovernmental organizations that support women and government staff dealing with women’s issues.

What I already know…

Countries in M.E: Iran, Iraq, Soudi Arabia, U.A.E.

Religion: Islam ( sunni, shi a)

-believe Ala which means one god

- their bible is called “Koran”

Women had less freedom and rights than men

the weather is hot and arid

There was war between Iraq and U.S.

A man can have more than 2 wives.

Women wear hijab.

Fight because of religion

- Sunni and shi a

Fight because of resources

- Water

- Oil, petroleum

Earns money because of abundant natural resources

Deserts, camels

Books related to M.E – Kite Runner, Thousand Splendid Suns

What I assume…

Extreme child labor

The status between the rich and the poor are so different

Many rich people and developing cities

Such as, Dubai in U.A.E

Notorious terrorists ( Hussaine, Binladen)

Kidnapped “Korean church”- Samul Church

-Tale ban

What I want to learn…

The culture, food

Racial discrimination or the fights between different religions

Religion conflicts

The relationship with the Apartheid

War of natural resources

Why are so many wars happening in the M.E countries?

Are there royal families in M. E?

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