A 1981 Saudi fatwa stipulates that offenses of sexual honour should be covered by hirabah (brigandage or highway robbery) a hadd crime which is an unusual interpretation and departs from classical Islamic jurisprudence.
This seems to allow circumstantial evidence but rape remains difficult to prove to Saudi’s conservative judiciary, which is keener to punish the offense of intermingling of people of opposite sexes.
In 2009, the Saudi Gazette reported that a 23-year-old unmarried woman was sentenced to one year in prison and 100 lashes for adultery after the judge refused to believe that she was raped.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison, 800 lashes, and a diyat (blood money) of one million riyals (US$270,000) to be paid to the girl's mother, his ex-wife.
Sharia (Islamic law) allows defendants to deny signed confessions, according to Abdul-Aziz al-Gassem, a lawyer who was not involved in the case.