By Andrew Hammond

RIYADH, Dec 19 (Reuters) - A pardon by Saudi King Abdullah for a gang-rape victim sentenced to flogging was a direct response to an international outcry rather than an effort to reform the kingdom's Islamic Sharia courts.

Saudi Arabia, which holds its U.S. ties in high regard, came under pressure when the Supreme Judicial Council last month ordered a 19-year-old Shi'ite woman to 200 lashes and six months in prison for having been with an unrelated man when the two were attacked and raped by seven other men in 2006.

Ruling according to the strict Saudi reading of Islamic law, the court was in fact increasing a sentence from a lower court which had recommended 90 lashes. The rapists' sentences were raised to between two years and nine years in prison.

U.S. President George W. Bush said this month that King Abdullah "knows our position loud and clear" on the case.

Questioned in Washington last month Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said he hoped the ruling would be changed.

Saudi Arabia's liberal elite consider the pardon to be a sign of King Abdullah's reformer instincts and a slap in the face to judges, who are clerics of austere Wahhabi Islam.

"I don't think the king pardoned the victims just because he wanted to silence the critics," said blogger Ahmed al-Omran. "If the king saw nothing wrong with the trial then he would have let the victim appeal and go with the case to the higher court."

A royal decree made public this week on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha tried to strike a balance between saving face for the judiciary and sympathy for the victim, a minority Shi'ite from Qatif in the Eastern Province.

It said the suffering of the two rape victims was in itself enough "discipline" so they would "learn the lesson".

It also said they were the victims of a "brutal crime" and ordered the rapists to face the sternest punishment possible, confirming the case faces another judicial review.

The sentence was unpopular among Saudis. A telephone poll of 1,000 Saudis published this week by a Washington-based group showed 38 percent opposed it and 15 percent supported it.

JUDICIAL REFORM

Criticising the judiciary in Saudi Arabia is especially sensitive because clerics rule according to Islamic Sharia law. They have wide powers in society according to a traditional pact with the Saudi royal family.

A diplomat who follows Islamic affairs said the case would likely boost reformists who want to see the austere legal system modified by restricting judges' powers of discretion.

In October, King Abdullah announced plans to reform the judiciary, which now does not use the concept of precedent.

It was not the first time the monarchy has issued pardons in cases that have gained negative international attention, the diplomat said, noting cases of British nurses found guilty of murder and Westerners involved in illicit alcohol trading.

Rights activists involved in the case privately expressed disappointment that a pardon implies the woman is still guilty.

They also say the perception among Shi'ites is that the verdicts were sectarian, an issue too sensitive to raise openly.

It was not clear why the case was tried by Sunni judges, who regard Shi'ites as virtual heretics, and not in Shi'ite courts that exist in the Qatif area. The rapists were also Shi'ite.

A Saudi rights activist based in Washington said this month that Sunni judges could not rule fairly in such a case because of Wahhabi derogatory views of Shi'ites.

"Wahhabi ideology views Shi'ite women as loose and promiscuous," said Ali Al-Ahmed.

(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

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