Time and again, I have been writing on the horrible treatment and lack of respect for women throughout the world.  And just when you think you’ve seen it all, comes this story from the Maldives.  According to court records, a fifteen year old girl received the sentence of 100 lashes for engaging in pre-marital sex as a result of rape.  It is alleged that her step father raped her and killed the baby that was conceived from the rape.  He is awaiting trial on trial on those charges.  Amnesty International has condemned the charges as “cruel, degrading and inhumane.”  A spokesperson for the juvenile court defended the sentence and the girl’s house arrest because she “had willingly committed an act outside of the law”.  It’s difficult to comprehend how anyone could partake in such insane logic when a fifteen year old conceives a child at the hands of her stepfather, but anything is possible when living under laws imposed by flawed, weak and inferior men.  In these cultures as well as in religious practice, women are property.  They are not man enough to treat women as equals because it would be threatening to these uneducated, unintelligent, inferior males.  This case came to light when a report was called in to authorities regarding a dead baby buried on the island of Feydhoo, in the north of the country.  After investigating, the stepfather was arrested as was the girl’s mother for failing to report the abuse to authorities.  Amnesty International has repeatedly called on nations that still use flogging as punishment to abolish the practice.  A researcher with Amnesty International Ahmed Faiz said, “We are very surprised that the government is not doing anything to stop this punishment – to remove it altogether from the statute books.”  Faiz continued, “This is not the only case. It is happening frequently – only last month there was another girl who was sexually abused and sentenced to lashes.”  While the flogging is unquestionably cruel and inhumane, receiving such punishment for being the victim of a sex crime is unconscionable.  It demonstrates behavior not more civilized than cavemen.  The world should be up-in-arms over such stories and the governments that allow such sentences to take place should be treated as pariahs until such time that these laws are abolished.  Add to that, until such time women are treated as equals.