December 05, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 24, 1428

WASHINGTON, Dec 4: US President George Bush expressed disappointment on Tuesday at Saudi Arabia’s lack of support to a rape victim, saying he would have been angry if his own daughter had endured such treatment.

In his first comments about the case of a Saudi rape victim who was sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes, Bush, a father of twin daughters, said he had thought about his own children.

“My first thoughts were these: What happens if this happened to my daughter? How would I react?” Bush told a news conference.

“And I would have been — I would have — I’d have been very emotional, of course. I’d have been angry at those who committed the crime and I would be angry at a state that didn’t support the victim,” he said.

Bush added that Saudi King Abdullah, one of the top Middle East allies, knows the US position on the case “loud and clear,” but acknowledged that he had not taken up the issue personally when he met with the king last week.

Saudi Arabia’s government said last week that the judiciary was reviewing the sentence against the 19-year-old woman.

The teenage victim, who has not been identified, was attacked at knifepoint by seven men after she was found in a car with a male companion who was not a relative, in breach of strict Saudi law.—AFP