Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has pardoned a teenage girl sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes after being gang raped, Al Jazirah newspaper reported on Monday. The ruling against the 19-year-old girl in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom had attracted widespread international condemnation, including from human rights groups and the White House.
The Arabic language daily said it had been informed of the royal pardon from its own, unidentified, sources. But in the same article, the kingdom's Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Ibrahim al-Sheikh told the paper the king had the "right to overrule court judgements if he considered it benefiting the greater good."
The minister added that the king, who is viewed by many as a cautious reformer, was concerned with "the needs of the people and the court judgements that are made against them."
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