Saudi Arabia is facing an international outcry over the sentencing of a nineteen-year-old gang-rape victim to six months in prison and 200 lashes. The Shiite Muslim woman was convicted of violating Sharia law on contact between men and women. A Saudi court upheld the ruling this week. The Bush administration has refused to directly criticize the Saudi judiciary. On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack would only imply that the Saudi government should change the ruling, saying it causes “a fair degree of surprise and astonishment.”