Saturday, November 17, 2007

Tough on the causes of crime (i.e. women)

Imagine, and I apologise for the subject matter, that you’ve been gang-raped 14 times by seven men.

The case comes to court, and your attackers are given prison sentences of up to five years each. You, however, are convicted of breaking the law on male-female segregation laws, and you are sentenced to 90 lashes.

Would you appeal the sentence? I probably would. So, imagine that’s what you do.

As a result of the appeal, the rapists get their sentences doubled. The court also decides that the 90 lashes for you was inappropriate. So, it’s changed to 200 lashes. Plus six months in jail.

Are you happy now?

Welcome to Saudi Arabia, the land of shared values.

Here be monsters.
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9 comments:

jams o donnell said...

Is there any reaction to this but disgust?

5:10 pm, November 17, 2007
Andre said...

That piece of news is shameful. Some things shouldn't happen in 2007.

8:52 am, November 18, 2007
mooney said...

Saudi Arabian Justice system = disgusting.

British Government. Royal Family and Establishment = disgusting and hypocritical.

11:58 pm, November 18, 2007
Andre said...

I must admit if there was any reference to "shared values" this was either a result of ignorance, or a mandatory cliche, or someone has a weird dark sense of humour... however being situated in such a strategic position it wouldn't be a good strategic move to snub the Saudi govt.

Lets not forget that governments do not really have friends, they just have relationships - with governments and ideologies they might even abhor.

8:21 am, November 19, 2007
Tom Freeman said...

"governments do not really have friends, they just have relationship"

Fair call. It's bloody frustrating, though, that a bunch as nasty as the Saudi government seems to have half the world in a pseudo-friendly headlock. And of its two main exports - oil and wahhabi extremism - it's hard to know which is going to cause more suffering this century...

9:57 am, November 19, 2007
anticant said...

Yes - and we pay for the Wahhabi extremism by buying the oil!

Surely there must be a more active response to this vile regime than passive disgust?

7:05 pm, November 19, 2007
Tom Freeman said...

Maybe - you'd think the people who backe sanctions against apartheid South Africa or reviled Gap for using Far Eastern sweatshops or various 'exploitative' coffee companies might consider an ethical consumer boycott of oil companies that get theirs form the Saudis.

It'd be painful, though...

9:36 am, November 20, 2007
Andre said...

One could also see the picture from Saudi's point of view. By being a US ally it is supporting a country most people in the Middle East consider a sworn enemy, and by selling oil to western countries they may be seen as selling goods to countries with loose morals

2:42 pm, November 20, 2007
Tom Freeman said...

That's true, it’s an incredibly dangerous trade-off they’re playing at.

Sell the oil to the US and others in exchange for tons of money and arms contracts to help them maintain their position of power; meanwhile, hope that encouraging the Wahhabi fanatics that provide the only real domestic threat by funding madrassas and running a savage sharia system. Hope that their deals with each group won’t antagonise the other too badly; and resist calls (from at home or internationally) for democratic reform.

It’s terrifyingly unstable.

3:54 pm, November 20, 2007

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