Filipino woman gets 100 lashes for giving birth in Qatar

For giving birth, a 32-year-old Filipino woman working as a domestic helper was sentenced to 100 lashes by a criminal court in Qatar, the Peninsula reported Friday. The unnamed Filipino woman has a three-month-old baby boy from a relationship with a married man whose nationality was not disclosed. Authorities said the employer of the Filipino woman reported the matter to the police in April after learning of the child’s existence a month after its birth. Reports said that at first, the domestic helper denied giving birth to the child, claiming the baby was given by a friend upon learning that the Filipino woman was returning to the Philippines. The Filipino woman later admitted being the mother of the child. Article 88 of the criminal code said the punishment for a man or woman condemned of adultery is 100 lashes. Adultery may even be punished by death when a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man are involved, in which case the man is condemned to death. In a related development, another unnamed Filipino woman working as a domestic helper was sentenced to a year in jail in Qatar for stealing cash and gold worth QR350,000 from her sponsor's house. The stolen items were taken to the Philippines when the said domestic helper returned for a vacation in July 2002. The Filipino woman then failed to return to her employer and was recently arrested in the United Arab Emirates with the help of Interpol. She has the right to appeal, the Peninsula reported. - GMANews.TV