A Saudi teenager who was gang-raped and bizarrely sentenced to receive 200 lashes by that country’s judicial system, has claimed that she has struggled to get the police to take action, and is simply distressed by her harrowing court appearances.

According to The Independent, the victim who has simply been identified as the “Qatif girl”, said that while her plight has made international headlines and caused acute embarrassment to the House of Saud, her ordeal began with a telephone call. “I had a relationship with someone on the phone,” she recounted to Human Rights Watch.

“We were both 16. I had never seen him before. I just knew his voice. He started to threaten me, and I was frightened. He threatened to tell my family about the relationship. Because of the threats and fear, I agreed to give him a photo of mine,” she said.

A few months later, she said, after she had been married to another man, she became concerned that the photograph might be misused and asked the boy to return it.
He accepted on the condition that she would meet him and go for a drive with him. She agreed, reluctantly, to meet the boy at a nearby market. They were driving towards her home when a second car stopped in front of them, she said.

“I told the individual with me not to open the door, but he did. He let them come in. I screamed,” she added.
She and her companion were taken to a secluded spot where they were both raped, many times.

“They forced me out of the car. They pushed me really hard. I yelled out, “Where are you taking me? I’m like your sister”. They took me to a dark place. Then two men came in. The first man with the knife raped me. I was destroyed. If I tried to escape, I don’t even know where I would go. I tried to force them off, but I couldn’t. In my heart, I didn’t even feel anything after that. I spent two hours begging them to take me home,” she said.

The second man then raped her, then a third. “There was a lot of violence,” she said. In the hours that followed her attackers told the girl they knew she was married. A fourth man and then a fifth raped her too. “The fifth one took a photo of me like this. I tried to cover my face, but they didn’t let me”.

Her ordeal continued after the fifth rape. Two more men, one with his face covered entered the room and raped her. Afterwards all seven men came back and raped her again.