Today, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pardoned a young female rape victim who'd previously been sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes for being in a car with a man to whom she was not related. She and the man were both abducted and raped by seven assailants in 2006. Though the case sparked an international outcry and criticism of the Saudi justice system, the government-controlled Saudi Arabian press insisted King Abdullah's pardon did not mean the initial sentence was wrong.

Was the king's reversal meant to appease Sunni and Shiite tensions, or rescue Saudi Arabia from the bowels of international opinion? Just what was he thinking?