I’ve written about the appalling justice system in Saudi Arabia before in The Injustice of Sharia in Saudi Arabia and also specifically about the case of Raif Badawi, a blogger serving a sentence of ten years and 1,000 lashes simply for disagreeing with the type of governance that prevails in the country.
More and more, people have begun to compare the fact that there is little difference between the justice system in Saudi Arabia and DAESH-controlled territory. Here are some of the images being used to do that:
Following an article in a pro-government newspaper there in which Saudi Arabia is apparently threatening to sue people who compare them to DAESH, a Saudi Arabian human rights group has posted the following on Movements™, an organisation that crowd sources human rights campaigns:
Join us in the Campaign #SueMeSaudi. From the PRO Government Newspaper Al Ryadh “Questioning the fairness of the courts is to question the justice of the Kingdom and its judicial system based on Islamic law, which guarantees rights and ensures human dignity,” the source told the pro-government newspaper. They claimed the Kingdom’s courts would not hesitate to put on trial “any media that slandered the religious judiciary of the Kingdom”. in Arabic “وبين المصدر بأن قضاء المملكة يطبق أحكام الشريعة الإسلامية وفق معايير عدلية دقيقة وضمانات قضائية كفلتها أحكام الشريعة الإسلامية وأنظمة المملكة المرعية، والتشكيك بعدالة الأحكام الصادرة عن المحاكم هو تشكيك بعدالة المملكة ونظامها القضائي المرتكز على الشريعة الإسلامية التي كفلت الحقوق وضمنت كرامة الإنسان.” The Kingdom, a close UK ally, has executed 152 people in 2015. It is the highest number on record since 1995, according to Amnesty International.
F**k you Saudi Arabia.
Here is my tweet:
(My tweet has the full list of crimes like the first picture above, but you don’t need to see it all again.)
You can also share the post at the Movements™ website directly to Facebook and Twitter. I hope some of you will consider taking part in this campaign. It is a joke to call the justice system in Saudi Arabia, based on Sharia, a “justice” system. We in the West have for too long ignored that for political reasons. Hopefully if more people speak up about this, it will put enough pressure on politicians for them to address this issue at a diplomatic level.
Yes the relationship the West has with the Saudi government is an absolute scandal. I remember being furious when John Key had the Auckland Harbor bridge for the death of King Abdullah.
I think I tweeted him at the time and said I want that flag at half mast everyday until Raif is free, and everyone like him has the right to use their voice. I got no reply of course.
Yes! Raif Badawi would be a much better person to honour!
How can someone commit adultery without being married? And 100 lashes for an illogical crime…stupid is stupid does I suppose.
It’s not uncommon. I’m not quite sure of the logic, but one of the cases I wrote about was where a woman was raped by multiple offenders and became pregnant as a result. She tried to get an abortion, and it was then she was reported to authorities for her crime of being out without a male relative. One of her convictions was for adultery.
I thought that both partners in an adulterous relationship were considered guilty.
You’re forgetting that in Saudi Arabia it’s the woman’s fault when she is raped, so she takes all the blame.
This is the post that has more details of the case of the unmarried woman who was convicted of adultery: https://www.heatherhastie.com/the-injustice-of-sharia-in-saudi-arabia/
I think it’s because she got pregnant from the rape that the adultery charge comes in.
Update on Raif:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/12/11/facing-punishment-for-insulting-islam-saudi-blogger-raif-badawi-is-on-hunger-strike-says-wife/
Thanks Ken. There’s a petition just started for the NZ government to put pressure on the Saudi government to free Raif Badawi. (I’m only the third person to sign it so far.) It’s on the Heather’s Homilies Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HeathersHomilies/
Or you can find it here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/New_Zealand_Government_Apply_pressure_on_Saudi_Arabia_to_free_Raif_Badawi/?foavnjb&pv=0
They claimed the Kingdom’s courts would not hesitate to put on trial “any media that slandered the religious judiciary of the Kingdom”. Where did you get this information?
There is a link to the source just above the quote. Click on the underlined words “posted the following” – that will take you to where I got the quote.