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.
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| 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".
