Saudi Arabia is no stranger to the Syrian civil war, actively funding and supporting the rebellion against the Assad regime. However a recent Saudi Wahhabi preacher's religious decree reveals barbaric justification emanating from the kingdom's clerics.
Saudi preacher Muhammed al-Arifi issued a fatwa that allows jihadi fighters to rape Syrian women.
According to the news broadcast featured on Lebanon's Al Jadeed TV, Al-Arifi claims that the fighters have not been with women for two years and is allowing them to engage in "intercourse marriage" that lasts for a few hours "in order to give each fighter a turn."
It is the women's duty to acquiesce in this arrangement in order to reach paradise because it "boosts the determination of the Mujahideen in Syria" as long they are at least 14 years old, widowed, or divorced, al-Arifi said.
This clear justification for rape illustrates the fundamentalist mentality plaguing many circles dominating the Saudi religious establishment and must be vehemently condemned.
Steven Emerson is executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism. Emerson was a correspondent for CNN and a senior editor at U.S. News and World Report. Read more reports from Steve Emerson — Click Here Now.
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