The Candidates on Jailing Rape Victims

CNN has the headline "Candidates slam Saudi rape verdict". The Story then tells about how Biden, Clinton and Edwards have made statements, of the appropriate sort, about this.

By my count there are 17 people running for president under the banner of one of the two major parties. Let's just see as of this publishing what each of them have said about this issue that, let's face it, didn't just happen this afternoon. I went to the web sites of each of the candidates to look for a press release or a blurb or some such and this is what I have found so far. My methodology was simple. I first googled "{candidate's last name} Rape Saudi" and if I got no hits then I looked at their campaign web site. Simple minded I know but then this should be a simple thing for them to have a public opinion on.

I am going to write up something about how I feel about this but the overall results made me too pissed off to write at the moment.

Democratic Party Hopefuls

• Joe Biden

"I'm outraged by the decision of a Saudi Arabian court to punish the victim of a brutal gang-rape," Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee said in a statement.

"I call on King Abdullah to exercise his powers and overturn this sentence if the Saudi courts do not reverse their decision immediately.

"I also would urge him to undertake reforms to prevent similar miscarriages of justice in the future."

• Hillary Clinton

  Calling the decision "an outrage," Sen. Hillary Clinton urged President Bush to protest the decision to the Saudi authorities.
  
  "The Bush administration has refused to condemn the sentence and said it will not protest an internal Saudi decision," the Democrat presidential front-runner said in a statement.

  "I urge President Bush to call on King Abdullah [of Saudi Arabia] to cancel the ruling and drop all charges against this woman."

• Christopher Dodd
• Crickets (Yes, this really pissed me off)
  
• John Edwards
  

“Today’s news that a Saudi Arabian court has chosen to punish the victim of a gang rape is an appalling breach of the most fundamental human rights. I am outraged that President Bush has refused to condemn the sentence. We need a president who will reengage with the world and restore our moral authority - only then will we be able to lead other nations in protecting the basic rights and human dignity of every person on this planet.”

• Mike Gravel
• Crickets
  
• Dennis Kucinich
• Crickets
  
• Barack Obama

  According to news accounts, last week a Saudi court sentenced a 19-year old woman, who was the victim of a gang rape, to six months in jail and to 200 lashes. Reportedly, this is more than a doubling of her initial sentence. The court took this step of doubling the sentence because the defendant’s lawyers raised the case in the press in an effort to call attention to it. That the victim was sentenced at all is unjust, but that the court doubled the sentence because of efforts to call attention to the ruling is beyond unjust.
  
  I strongly urge the Department of State to condemn this ruling. Moreover, since your Department is finalizing this year’s country reports on human rights pursuant to Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), I ask that this unjust case and any efforts to correct this demeaning ruling be given a prominent place in that report.

• Bill Richardson
• Crickets
  

Republican Party Hopefuls

• Rudy Giuliani
• Crickets
  
• Mike Huckabee
• Crickets - although to be fair his web site wouldnt load at all so ......
  
• Duncan Hunter
• Crickets
  
• Alan Keyes
• Crickets
  
• John McCain
• Crickets
  
• Ron Paul
• Crickets
  
• Mitt Romney
• Crickets
  
• Tom Tancredo
• Crickets
  
• Fred Thompson
• Crickets
  

And this is the state department reaction

"This is a part of a judicial procedure overseas in the court of a sovereign country," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack when asked to comment on the case.

"That said, most would find this relatively astonishing that something like this happens," added McCormack.