“The founder of a liberal-minded website in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes…
Raif Badawi, through his website known as Free Saudi Liberals, had urged Saudis to share opinions about the role of religion in the country, which follows a strict form of Islam that includes harsh punishments for challenging customs.”
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021502762_apmlsaudiwebforumsentence.html
So we can assume you’re in favor of this?
So is it 600 or 700?
The Saudis are modernizing. The have taken a lenient view in this case. 20 years ago, he would have been simply chucked into the Rab-ul-Khali.
:mad::eek:
See, there’s downright liberal there.
I have no illusion that any theocracy would be any better.
700 would be inhumane. 600 is at the upper end of the UN reasonable punishment guidelines.
The country should be a pariah, as should any state which follows the barbaric dictates of sharia law. The guy is also being charged with disobeying his father, a criminal offense in Saudi Arabia.In neighboring Dubai there were a couple of cases of rape lately. Both women reported the rapes and were promptly arrested. In Dubai rape can only be prosecuted if five good Muslims observe the offense and so testify. Rape victims are charged with morals offenses and thrown into prison. The women mentioned previously are still incarcerated.
These countries are a stench in the nostrils of civilized nations. They should be shunned rather than constantly courted.
Why drop the charges of apostasy if you’re going to give 700 lashes? That’s pretty much a death sentence right there. (Also, I first read the title as “7 years in prison and 700 ladies”, which, depending on the ladies, would make Saudi prison either a much more or much less pleasant place to be.)
A few dabs of *Eau d’Huile *masks most stenches pretty effectively.
Lashes are delivered humanely, with a doctor in attendance.
I wholeheartedly agree. That reason alone is enough for me to advocate getting rid of our dependence on their oil.
This is the kind of thing that would make Paul Harvey say “It is not one world.”
That’s a joke, right?
I gotta ask because I’m pretty slow on the uptake these days.
Does he get the lashes all at once or over the course of a few days?
700 lashes? That’s gotta be for both eyes, right? Put 700 lashes on each and the poor guy couldn’t even open his eyes. He wouldn’t need mascara, though.
Huh? Oh. OH! That ain’t right.
If one of the women you’re referring to was Marte Dalelv of Norway, she has been released and is back in Norway. Of course, that in no way makes the justice system of Dubai or Saudi Arabia more acceptable.
Google found me references to medical supervision of caning in Singapore and lashes in the Caribbean. Haven’t found anything about doctors Saudi Arabia yet, though this source says they are less formal, and use a less dangerous style of whipping:
It was the “Lashes are delivered humanely” part I was questioning.
I fail to see how 600 lashes could in any way be humane.
“Relatively” humane, perhaps. People aren’t beaten to death, or even maimed usually.
I don’t have a cite, but very large numbers of lashes have traditionally been given in stages. He may be looking at 50 a month, 100 a year, something like that. (I’m basing this in part on recollections of the enormous lash counts given Australian prisoners - sometimes 2,000 or more that, given over years, stripped their backs of flesh.)