If ever there was one subject that thoroughly displays how backward the Saudis still are, it's the fact that they not only still have 'witchcraft trials' but the fact that there is a death sentence attached to the 'convictions'.
Now before anyone points out that they are not the only race to hold these sorts of trials, I am well aware of, and indeed have blogged on, the spasmodic outbreaks of 'witch hunts' from around the world.
In fact the UK held its last witch trial (Helen Duncan) in the 1940's when officials had ordered the medium arrested because they were afraid she would reveal top-secret plans for the D-Day landings. They had been monitoring her since she had revealed the sinking of a British battleship earlier in the war - even though the government had suppressed the news to maintain morale at home.
It took a jury just 30 minutes to find her guilty and she became the last person to be convicted of witchcraft in Britain. However even at a time of national panic, she still only got a nine-month sentence in London's Holloway Prison.
However 60 yrs later and for purely religious reasons, the Saudis still kill 'witches', and this current case, is only the latest in a long line of 'witches' caught by the 'religious' police. This case involves a Lebanese man (previously it was an Egyptian pharmacist), who was due to be murdered today, but who has had the penalty put off by the courts (but not waived).... He was arrested by religious police on sorcery charges while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2008.
Ali Sabat is the host of a popular Lebanese TV show in which he predicted the future and gave advice. Human rights groups have accused the Saudis of "sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police"..... nothing new in this as the links show.
Update:
Following much international pressure, in March 2012, Sibat was reported to have been released and allowed to return to Lebanon, though this report was cautioned with the words "this cannot be independently confirmed".
Now before anyone points out that they are not the only race to hold these sorts of trials, I am well aware of, and indeed have blogged on, the spasmodic outbreaks of 'witch hunts' from around the world.
In fact the UK held its last witch trial (Helen Duncan) in the 1940's when officials had ordered the medium arrested because they were afraid she would reveal top-secret plans for the D-Day landings. They had been monitoring her since she had revealed the sinking of a British battleship earlier in the war - even though the government had suppressed the news to maintain morale at home.
It took a jury just 30 minutes to find her guilty and she became the last person to be convicted of witchcraft in Britain. However even at a time of national panic, she still only got a nine-month sentence in London's Holloway Prison.
 |
| Ali Hussain Sibat - Lebanese TV Mystic arrested while on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. |
However 60 yrs later and for purely religious reasons, the Saudis still kill 'witches', and this current case, is only the latest in a long line of 'witches' caught by the 'religious' police. This case involves a Lebanese man (previously it was an Egyptian pharmacist), who was due to be murdered today, but who has had the penalty put off by the courts (but not waived).... He was arrested by religious police on sorcery charges while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2008.
Ali Sabat is the host of a popular Lebanese TV show in which he predicted the future and gave advice. Human rights groups have accused the Saudis of "sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police"..... nothing new in this as the links show.
Update:
Following much international pressure, in March 2012, Sibat was reported to have been released and allowed to return to Lebanon, though this report was cautioned with the words "this cannot be independently confirmed".
This is pathetic on a national level for both parties. Any nation not willing to barter its citizen's lives in anything less than blood is not worth the ink its formation is written in. Lebanon should take a lesson from Russia when playing hardball, and should simply abduct and dispose of a hundred Saudi citizens for every one that is lost to such backwards legal practices. It doesn't do your image any good to sit back and do nothing while any number of your tax-payers are being unjustly executed in a country where they have committed no crime. At least insist that you will do something sinister if nothing else, though it is hardly a difficult task to abduct a handful of unsuspecting individuals.
ReplyDeleteAnd how stupid do you have to be to believe in the supernatural? Such things are only ever prevalent in the minds of children who are no where near their teenage years. Yes, every nation has it's idiots. I'm sure there is a neo-nazi cult not too far away from me as I type this, but small-time, underground groups are a far ways off from a national justice department. If you pack enough idiots in a room, eventually the smarter few will find their way to the top. I guess Saudi Arabia just wasn't as lucky as the rest of us.
It's no solution, but given past, current, and likely future events, if you happen to treat anyone who is proud of being a Saudi Arabian citizen or proud of their Saudi a heritage as a subhuman, it's okay. More often than not you will be right.
Its sad when any part of the world resorts to state sponsored murder in the name of 'religion' (isn't this what the Aztecs did?), but taking hostages to ensure that they behave is taking the argument down to their level ....
ReplyDeleteMaybe stopping their citizens from travelling abroad via 'people sanctions' would have a greater affect?
I know that as is usual in 'religious states' the hypocrites drive across the borders to 'drink', 'womanise', 'sodomise' and generally 'break' all their own 'taboos' (Haram).
If they were bottled up and stopped from doing this there would be greater pressures for reform in Saudi Arabia.
Imagaine if they hadn't got oil? Would anyone give a moments thought for the backward and corrupt little state?
I think not!
I guess that with Ali Sabat, apparently still alive, as far as I can determine, it looks as though the Saudis have had to bow to international pressure..... for now
ReplyDelete