AUSTRALIAN WOMAN GANG RAPED AND JAILED FOR HAVING ILLICIT SEX UNDER ISLAMIC LAW

Source: THE SUN NEWS

Alicia Gali was an Australian employee of hotel chain Starwood in the United Arab Emirates when she was subjected to a brutal attack. While using her laptop in the hotel bar, her drink was spiked and, while she was unconscious, Gali was raped by three of her colleagues. Gali woke up with multiple bruises and four broken ribs. At this point, she took herself to hospital and reported the crime herself.

Under UAE law, a rape conviction is only possible if the rapist confesses or four Muslim males give testimony against the accused. Without this, Gali found herself charged with a crime: sex outside of wedlock. She was found guilty and spent eight months in a UAE prison as punishment for her "crime". Although now freed from prison, Gali is still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and is currently being cared for by her family.

Sharia Law is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, and fasting.

Though interpretations of sharia vary between cultures, in its strictest definition it is considered the infallible law of God—as opposed to the human interpretation of the laws.

There are two primary sources of sharia law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Where it has official status, sharia is interpreted by Islamic judges (qadis) with varying responsibilities for the religious leaders.

For questions not directly addressed in the primary sources, the application of sharia is extended through consensus of the religious scholars (ulama) thought to embody the consensus of the Muslim Community. Islamic jurisprudence will also sometimes incorporate analogies from the Quran and Sunnah through qiyas, though Shia jurists prefer reasoning to analogy.