American student received 75 lashes
for stealing a bag of potato chips!

Westerners were horrified when English nurse Lucille McLauchlan was recently sentenced to 500 lashes in Saudi Arabia, and outraged British leaders demanded that the harsh punishment be called off. But Lucille -- who was found guilty of being an accessory in the murder of fellow nurse Yvonne Gilford -- is not the first Western woman to be publicly flogged in the Moslem country. Danielle Pantinella of East Orange, New Jersey, went through the same painful and demeaning experience when she received a dose of Islamic "justice" there in 1989. Here, exclusively for Weekly World News readers, is Danielle's chilling account of her horrific ordeal:

"For the love of Allah, please stop! Please don't whip me again!"

Tears streaming down my cheeks, my voice quaking in craven terror, I let out that pitiful cry as the Saudi guard raised the bamboo cane high above his head and prepared to bring it down on my back for the 50th time.

My body ached from the lashes that had bitten into my bare flesh, and I was woozy from pain. But when I heard the jeering crowd roar in approval, I knew my captors would show no mercy.

As I heard the awful sound of the cane whistling through the air once again, I passed out. And in that moment of darkness my mind drifted back to the day when the nightmare had begun.

At the time I was a naive 18-year-old college student visiting Saudi Arabia. I was having a ball, but was running low on cash. I wandered into a store in the capital, Riyadh -- where I made the biggest mistake of my life. I tried to sneak off with a bag of potato chips I hadn't paid for and the owner spotted me. He promptly called the police and the next thing I knew I was under arrest!

I was thrown in a jail cell in the police station.

Later, a judge sentenced me to be flogged 75 times for shoplifting.

The next morning I was loaded into a truck with six guards, who drove me to the market square.

To my horror, they ordered me to unbutton the back of my prison smock, then bend over a chair they'd brought along. Two guards held my hands to keep me in place. Adding to my humiliation, hundreds of shoppers had gathered around to gawk.

I looked back over my shoulder -- and saw that one of the other guards had raised a bamboo cane and was about to bring it down. I closed my eyes and braced myself.

Then I felt a sharp, stinging pain in my back, as if I'd been stabbed by a knife. I winced and tears began to roll down my cheeks, but I was stubbornly determined I wouldn't give the onlookers the satisfaction of hearing me scream.

One after another, the blows rained down across my back and buttocks, in a crisscrossing pattern. And every time the last made contact, the crowd shouted in delight. I heard one woman cry out, "Give the wicked infidel what she deserves!"

Finally I couldn't hold back. I began to howl in agony and beg for mercy -- then collapsed.

When I regained consciousness hours later, I was back in my bunk in the jail cell, my back and buttocks covered with dozens of red welts. I was released from prison -- and you can bet I hopped on the first plane back to the U.S!

WEEKLY WORLD NEWS,  November 25, 1997