Teenage girl to hang for defending herself against rapist

This article caught my attention.

http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5183

I've worked in the middle east, including Saudi. When arrived, I assumed such stories were apocryphal dreamed up by xenophobic expatriates with nothing better to but over time I found out they were all too frequently true. To help convince me, I found that there were no shortage of Arabs prepared to not only admit such acts but to argue in defence of them. Yet whenever I repeat such tales to friends in the UK, they assume I am naive in believing in them.

Why are university educated people of my generation so willing to put on the blinkers when it comes to judging foreign peoples?

Update

This post actually started out quite long and related a tale of an encouter with a moral relativist (socialist obviously), who was unashamed about arguing that it was wrong for me (a Westerner) to impose my values on Iran (who had just executed a teenage homosexual), but I dropped it because it seemed too rambling.

Update 2

My wife has started sending her all her contacts the following email to see if something can be done to save this girl. She has suggested this be a woman only thing (which I don't agree with). The idea being that this both informs and suggests a positive action. The text reads

---------------------------------------------------------------
"Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece."

The details are below. If you think this is an injustice, please email tb-petitions@ohchr.org with your petition. You could also email the Iranian Embassy, the BBC or other media outlets that have yet to carry this story.

Please forward this email to anybody you know who might want to help.

Amnesty International are rolling this into a campaign against executing children.


More details on this story:
www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5184

Petitions:
www.faithfreedom.org/oped/WYari60110.htm

Related news:
www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1859493...
www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5184
www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060108-0927...
www.faithfreedom.org/Announcement/601081013.htm
www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/news/article.php?storyid=92&sel_lang=english