Jeddah's General Court has sentenced three men to death after they were convicted of raping a woman in front of her children under the threat of weapon. The court sentenced the fourth man who did not participate in the crime but provided cover-up for the culprits to 1000 lashes and 10 years in jail. The Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP) has objected to the verdict and is demanding death sentence for all the four involved in the crime. The convicted men have decided to appeal the sentence. Saudi Gazette reported on July 8 that the three men – two 18-year-old Saudis and a 25-year-old Somali – were found guilty of raping a woman, threatening her with a cleaver, threatening to kill her children and threatening to rape her 6-year-old daughter. The men videotaped themselves raping her, pulled up her daughter's clothes and threatened to sexually assault her. The three criminals also robbed the house and ran away. The fourth man, a 25-year-old Yemeni, was found guilty of covering for them. The criminals had admitted their crimes. A police sketch artist drew the criminals' faces and investigators identified the suspects based on their prior criminal records. The men were arrested and the wife identified them in a police lineup. __
