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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (48349)	5/27/2005 3:14:11 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

Saudi Arabia Defying world trends Death Penalty '' I asked the sergeant, 'Where is he going?' And he said, 'To the court.' I said to Ruel, 'You see, it's OK, you're going to court.' He said, 'Rene, no one goes to court at this time in the morning'.'' Ruel Janda, a Filipino convicted of robbery in Saudi Arabia, was right. Later that day, in May 1997, he was beheaded. His last conversation was reported to Amnesty International by a fellow detainee, Rene Camahort. Sadiq 'Abd al-Karim Mal Allah, a Saudi Arabian Shi'a Muslim, was executed in 1992. Neither he nor his family knew that he was under sentence of death or for what ''crime'' he had been convicted. He was apparently charged with smuggling a copy of the Bible into Saudi Arabia. He denied the charge, but was reportedly requested to convert to Wahabism, an interpretation of Islam favoured by the state. When he refused, the judge was reported to have told him: ''You abandon your rejectionist belief or I will kill you.'' On 3 September 1992 he was publicly beheaded in al-Qatif. These cases illustrate the intense fear and secrecy surrounding the imposition of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. Those facing execution are rarely told in advance the date of execution. Sometimes prisoners are not even aware that they have been sentenced to death. The death penalty is frequently imposed following summary and secret trials. None of those executed has had access to a lawyer. Some have been convicted solely on the basis of ''confessions'' extracted by torture. Saudi Arabia's increasing use of the death penalty flies in the face of the worldwide trend towards abolition. The scope of the penalty has been widened and covers many non-violent crimes. People have been executed for apostasy (renunciation of one's faith), ''witchcraft'', adultery, ''highway robbery'' and drug offences, as well as for murder. The death penalty is mandatory for the vaguely defined offences of ''acts of sabotage and corruption on earth'', which have been used to punish those exercising their right to freedom of expression. In addition, there appear to be no legal safeguards to ensure that juvenile offenders aged under 18 are not sentenced to death. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of executions in the world. At least 103 people were executed in 1999, as recorded by Amnesty International. In the past 20 years 1,163 people are known to have been executed. The true figure is probably much higher. Only the Saudi Arabian authorities know how many people are currently under sentence of death. Amnesty International is aware of at least 45 prisoners reportedly held on capital charges. Among them is Abdul Karim Vastel, a 24-year-old Afghan national, who was arrested in 1996 and is reportedly under sentence of death for murder, after getting into a fight with another man who later died. Like all those sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia, he will have no meaningful opportunity to appeal against this irrevocable punishment. Amnesty International unconditionally opposes the death penalty in all circumstances on the grounds that it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life. Such irreversible punishment is inflicted despite the risk of human fallibility, resulting in miscarriages of justice and the execution of innocent prisoners. The risks inherent in capital cases are compounded in Saudi Arabia by the structural defects of the criminal justice system. Write to the Saudi Arabian authorities and ask them to: * Clarify the case of Abdul Karim Vastel and commute his sentence if he has been sentenced to death. * Implement measures to halt executions and reconsider the policy for the use of the death penalty. * Stop imposing the death penalty for non-violent offences. * Ensure that prisoners facing trials for capital offences are guaranteed the additional safeguards for fair trial provided by international human rights standards. Addresses: His Excellency Dr 'Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al-Sheik Minister of Justice Ministry of Justice University Street Riyadh 11137 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin 'Abdul 'Aziz Minister of the Interior Ministry of the Interior PO Box 2933, Airport Road Riyadh 11134 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Every day people in Saudi Arabia suffer violations of their basic human rights. Their suffering is perpetuated and hidden by a system based on secrecy and fear, and is largely ignored by the world's governments. Anyone who dares voice dissent is likely to be imprisoned. Women face systemic discrimination. Anyone not in a position of influence is at risk of arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly members of religious minorities and those deemed to have broken the country's strict moral codes. People are arrested with little or no explanation. They are denied access to a lawyer. They are tortured and ill-treated. They are convicted after secret and summary trials, sometimes solely on the basis of confessions extracted under duress. They face punishments including execution, amputation and flogging and in all cases have no meaningful right of appeal. The Saudi Arabian government refuses to allow outside scrutiny of its human rights record and has ignored Amnesty International's many requests for information, constructive dialogue or implementation of reforms that would protect human rights. Amnesty International is stepping up the pressure. It is issuing a series of documents to highlight the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia and to demand action from the authorities and the international community to put an end to the secrecy and suffering in Saudi Arabia. Please join us! Your help is needed. Captions Front photo: A photographer records a public execution in Jeddah from behind the bars of a window © Rex Features Sadiq 'Abd al-Karim Mal Allah © Private

To: one_less who wrote (48349)	5/27/2005 3:15:38 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 173976

HYPOCRISY MOST HOLY by Ali Al-Ahmed Wall Street Journal May 20, 2005 With the revelation that a copy of the Quran may have been desecrated by U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Muslims and their governments -- including that of Saudi Arabia -- reacted angrily. This anger would have been understandable if the U.S. government's adopted policy was to desecrate our Quran. But even before the Newsweek report was discredited, that was never part of the allegations. As a Muslim, I am able to purchase copies of the Quran in any bookstore in any American city, and study its contents in countless American universities. American museums spend millions to exhibit and celebrate Muslim arts and heritage. On the other hand, my Christian and other non-Muslim brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia -- where I come from -- are not even allowed to own a copy of their holy books. Indeed, the Saudi government desecrates and burns Bibles that its security forces confiscate at immigration points into the kingdom or during raids on Christian expatriates worshiping privately. Soon after Newsweek published an account, later retracted, of an American soldier flushing a copy of the Quran down the toilet, the Saudi government voiced its strenuous disapproval. More specifically, the Saudi Embassy in Washington expressed "great concern" and urged the U.S. to "conduct a quick investigation." Although considered as holy in Islam and mentioned in the Quran dozens of times, the Bible is banned in Saudi Arabia. This would seem curious to most people because of the fact that to most Muslims, the Bible is a holy book. But when it comes to Saudi Arabia we are not talking about most Muslims, but a tiny minority of hard-liners who constitute the Wahhabi Sect. The Bible in Saudi Arabia may get a person killed, arrested, or deported. In September 1993, Sadeq Mallallah, 23, was beheaded in Qateef on a charge of apostasy for owning a Bible. The State Department's annual human rights reports detail the arrest and deportation of many Christian worshipers every year. Just days before Crown Prince Abdullah met President Bush last month, two Christian gatherings were stormed in Riyadh. Bibles and crosses were confiscated, and will be incinerated. (The Saudi government does not even spare the Quran from desecration. On Oct. 14, 2004, dozens of Saudi men and women carried copies of the Quran as they protested in support of reformers in the capital, Riyadh. Although they carried the Qurans in part to protect themselves from assault by police, they were charged by hundreds of riot police, who stepped on the books with their shoes, according to one of the protesters.) As Muslims, we have not been as generous as our Christian and Jewish counterparts in respecting others' holy books and religious symbols. Saudi Arabia bans the importation or the display of crosses, Stars of David or any other religious symbols not approved by the Wahhabi establishment. TV programs that show Christian clergymen, crosses or Stars of David are censored. The desecration of religious texts and symbols and intolerance of varying religious viewpoints and beliefs have been issues of some controversy inside Saudi Arabia. Ruled by a Wahhabi theocracy, the ruling elite of Saudi Arabia have made it difficult for Christians, Jews, Hindus and others, as well as dissenting sects of Islam, to visibly coexist inside the kingdom. Another way in which religious and cultural issues are becoming more divisive is the Saudi treatment of Americans who are living in that country: Around 30,000 live and work in various parts of Saudi Arabia. These people are not allowed to celebrate their religious or even secular holidays. These include Christmas and Easter, but also Thanksgiving. All other Gulf states allow non-Islamic holidays to be celebrated. The Saudi Embassy and other Saudi organizations in Washington have distributed hundreds of thousands of Qurans and many more Muslim books, some that have libeled Christians, Jews and others as pigs and monkeys. In Saudi school curricula, Jews and Christians are considered deviants and eternal enemies. By contrast, Muslim communities in the West are the first to admit that Western countries -- especially the U.S. -- provide Muslims the strongest freedoms and protections that allow Islam to thrive in the West. Meanwhile Christianity and Judaism, both indigenous to the Middle East, are maligned through systematic hostility by Middle Eastern governments and their religious apparatuses. The lesson here is simple: If Muslims wish other religions to respect their beliefs and their Holy book, they should lead by example. Mr. al-Ahmed is director of the Saudi Institute in Washington.

To: one_less who wrote (48349)	5/27/2005 3:16:14 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 173976

In September 1993, Sadeq Mallallah, 23, was beheaded in Qateef on a charge of apostasy for owning a Bible. The State Department's annual human rights reports detail the arrest and deportation of many Christian worshipers every year. Just days before Crown Prince Abdullah met President Bush last month, two Christian gatherings were stormed in Riyadh. Bibles and crosses were confiscated, and will be incinerated. (The Saudi government does not even spare the Quran from desecration. On Oct. 14, 2004, dozens of Saudi men and women carried copies of the Quran as they protested in support of reformers in the capital, Riyadh. Although they carried the Qurans in part to protect themselves from assault by police, they were charged by hundreds of riot police, who stepped on the books with their shoes, according to one of the protesters.)