Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged Saudi King Abdullah to commute amputation sentences handed down against six men convicted of highway robbery in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom. The sentences to chop off the right hands and left feet of the six Saudis is currently before the Supreme Court for approval and could be carried out within days if ratified by the king, the London-based group said on Friday. It said they were forced to confess. ''Cross amputation' is a strikingly cruel form of punishment that amounts to torture and should have no place in a criminal justice system,' said the watchdog's Middle East and North Africa interim director, Philip Luther. 'We are urging the king to use his authority to urgently commute these sentences and spare these men this horrific punishment,' he added. Amnesty said the men are Barzan bin Raheel al-Shammari, 29; Amer bin Eid al-Jarbaa, 26; Mohammad bin Ali al-Shammari, 25; Mohammad bin Dhiyab Maddhi, 27; Abdullah bin Dhiyab Maddhi, 30; and Bandar bin Abbas al-Asadi, 22. The bedouin men were arrested in October 2010 in Riyadh, accused of 'highway robbery' and taken to Malaz prison in the capital. All were allegedly beaten and forced to confess to the charges against them, Amnesty said. Jarbaa was reportedly beaten for eight days and told that if he did not confess, his three brothers would be arrested. 'It appears that he signed a confession without knowing its contents and was later held in solitary confinement for 33 days,' it charged. The men were tried before the General Court in Riyadh with no legal representation and were sentenced in March 2011 to 'cross amputation', it said, adding that an appeal court upheld the sentences in October. Saudi Arabia enforces amputation of the right hand as a punishment for theft, while cross amputation is imposed in cases of highway robbery, Amnesty said. Armed robbery can be punishable by execution in the desert kingdom. Rape, murder, apostasy and drug trafficking also carry the death penalty under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=697740&vId=
Barbaric and disgusting with no place in todays world. Makes you wonder why America are still in bed with them
"Armed robbery can be punishable by execution in the desert kingdom. Rape, murder, apostasy and drug trafficking also carry the death penalty under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law". To be fair I have no problem with that, I have no intention of ever going to Saudi Arabia far less committing any of those crimes so I really don't give two ****s what their law dictates is a suitable punishment. We have our laws they have theirs, so what.
O Now now, dont lie. Where did I blame America, i was merely pondering why America was still in bed with a nation wih such a flagrant disregard to human rights while censuring other nations for apparent human rights abuses. Hypocrisy?
Using charges of "witchcraft," "apostasy" or "blasphemy," all of which are capital offenses under Saudi Arabia's version of Islamic law, are common tools for persecuting religious minorities in the Kingdom (especially Shia and Sufi Muslims), and for settling contract disputes with foreign workers. I worry that this ignorance and barbarity is creeping into the West through the back door. Ever noticed the double standard of the PC brigade for a start – bend over backwards to accommodate other cultures when they come here – but if we got over there…. It is our duty to raise as much noise about these abuses of human rights wherever we can, wherever they are, with politicians, newspapers, articles etc. Hopefully, it will do some good, as it did with the Saudi rape victim who was pardoned by the Saudi King in the face of the outrage of the world to her appalling sentence by demented clerics.
I don't fool myself into thinking that my condemantion of laws in other countries - however strict they may be - would serve any purpose. The good citizens of Saudi Arabia have the choice to live elsewhere if they don't like it. Their laws may indeed be "barbaric" but some people think any death penalty is barbaric, i just don't happen to share that view.
The death penalty is a curious one. I am of the belief there are certain crimes that do merit it (e.g. Ian Huntley) BUT only on the condition of a 100% foolproof conviction, and how likely are they. Look at the case of the Birmingham 6. Look how solid people considered their conviction then. The judge even told them that had the death penalty been available to him he would have used it.15 years later it turns out they had their confessions beaten out of them. Had the death penalty been available to the judge it would have been too late for them.
I’m not anti death penalty either, but if you’re going to have it then: 1. Make the snuffing out of life as humane as possible. 2. Have it for logical reasons, not through religious idiocy 3. Have the processes administered by properly legally trained, impartial people, not religious morons. A Saudi execution: The guy walks (swordman "seyaf") up to the victim and with one hand hacks the back of his/her neck. Sometimes he doesn't get a clean cut, and has to hit the neck again. He is then restrained by police because it is rumored that he gets a little blood lust and looks for another neck. There is usually an overflow crowd (standing room only). And we aren’t just talking about execution here, this is dismemberment after a theocratic based legal system has worked it’s idiocy along with a corrupt police "force". They have religious police (Mutawa'een) who are largely former criminals. One way to be released from a Saudi Jail is to memorize the Qur'an. This often leads them to the religious police force who attach themselves to the regular police. They have no "power" de jure, but power de facto. They have hangers on that that try to exert some power for once in their lives. It’s a grotesque place (as are theocratic ****e-holes generally) and you can’t apply our standards and norms (which, despite the ravings of PC fools, are much much better) to it.
