Category Archives: Death Penalty

Death Penalty, Misogyny, Wahhabi, Women

From ISIS to Arizona: Two Faces of Barbarism………

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“The UN says militant Islamist group Isis has ordered all women and girls in Mosul, northern Iraq, to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). UN official Jacqueline Badcock said the fatwa, or religious edict, applied to females between the ages of 11 and 46. She said the unprecedented decree issued by the Islamists in control of the city was of grave concern. Iraq is facing a radical Isis-led Sunni insurgency, with cities in the north-west under militant control. The ritual cutting of girls’ genitals is practised by some African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities in the belief it prepares them for adulthood or marriage…………..”

“I’ve never witnessed an execution that took that long,” Wood’s federal public defender, Dale Baich, told NBC News. “The state of Arizona today conducted a failed experiment. … It was horrible to watch.” Media witnesses said the execution — which followed a botched lethal-injection in Oklahoma, and a protracted one in Ohio using the same drugs — began as expected with doctors inserting the IVs into Wood’s veins. The witnesses said Wood, 55, thanked Jesus as his savior and delivered these final words: “I take comfort knowing today my pain stops, and I said a prayer that on this or any other day you may find peace in all of your hearts, and may God forgive you all.”…….”

Shows you that barbarism is an international phenomenon and not confined to Salafi nuts like ISIS. This is not the first time a man was tortured publicly before being put to death by injection in the United States by ‘the state’. I have written against execution by beheading and crucifixion in Saudi Arabia, but that seems like a humane quick way to die compared to what happened to this man in Arizona and what happened in that other state a few weeks ago. No doubt there are many cases where innocent people are put to death for crimes they did not commit, people we don’t read about because their execution is botched.

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

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Death Penalty, Human Right

Experimenting with Prisoners: a Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Stalag Oklahoma………

      

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“Oklahoma prison officials halted an inmate’s execution on Tuesday after a new drug combination left the man writhing and clenching his teeth on the gurney. He later died of a heart attack. Clayton Lockett, 38, was declared unconscious 10 minutes after the first of three drugs in the state’s new lethal injection combination was administered. Three minutes later, though, he began breathing heavily, writhing, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head off the pillow. The blinds were eventually lowered to prevent those in the viewing gallery from watching what was happening in the death chamber, and the state’s top prison official eventually called a halt to the proceedings. Lockett died of a heart attack ……………”


This is like concentration camp stuff. Experimenting with new drugs to kill convicts……

Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Iran

Life and Death Penalty in Iran: Clash of an Ayatollah with Himself………

      

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“An Iranian grand ayatollah who issued a fatwa ordering the re-execution of convicts who come back to life has said his religious ruling should not be applied in the case of the man who revived in the morgue earlier this month. Alireza, a 37-year-old father of two, was hanged two weeks ago for possessing a kilo of crystal meth and was certified as dead by medics after lingering for 12 minutes from a rope tied around his neck. He was sent for burial but a day later morgue workers realised he was still alive after spotting steam in the plastic cover he was wrapped in. Following his arrest three years ago, a revolutionary court had found Alireza guilty of drug smuggling and sentenced him to death….……….. Golpaygani reacted after a number of people contacted his office asking him to intervene or clarify his position over Alireza’s case. The state-run Jam-e-Jam newspaper, the first media organisation to break the news about Alireza’s ordeal, said many of its readers had asked for his life to be spared….……….”

The mullahs, being dour mullahs, are attached to the death penalty. As attached as anybody in the Middle East is, almost as attached as Texans are, it seems.
Remember the old days when the American overlords eliminated the death penalty in Iraq right after the 2003 invasion? Oddly, very few seriously support eliminating capital punishment in the USA itself, at least not openly, certainly not any major politician. Anyway, the moratorium on the death penalty did not last long in Iraq: the Salafi terrorists made sure of that.
Still, they’d have fun with a case like this in Texas, another place where executions are liked and evading them is seriously frowned upon.
(FYI: I am against all forms of capital punishment, be they by hanging, beheading, shooting, clubbing, watching TV, or needling. Clearly they do nothing to stop crime. Otherwise the USA, Texas, China, Iran, and Iraq would be crime-free heavens. They are not. They don’t do much to reduce sorcery and witchcraft either, otherwise Saudi Arabia would be footloose and witch-free).

Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Europe, Saudi Arabia

A Quranic Myth? Middle East Facing a Drain on Swordsmen?……….

         

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“An official in the ultra-conservative kingdom said that sword-bearing executioners “are not readily available everywhere and on some occasions, executions were marred by confusion as the executioner was late in showing up at the designated public place”. The unnamed bureaucrat told the daily Al Youm that in the age of easy digital communication, executioners’ lateness was “causing confusion and sparking speculation and rumours through modern technology”, a remark that perhaps hinted at public opposition. A special inter-ministerial committee was examining the possible change to a method that has been used for centuries and which Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia claim is based on the Koran.………….”

As for beheading being part of the Islamic Shari’a, and the claim of it being in the Quran, I
am not sure about that. I doubt it: there probably is nothing in the
Holy Quran about chopping heads (I haven’t seen anything about it, maybe I  missed something). I suspect they started doing that
because it was the easiest method. We did not have gallows or bullets in
the Middle East those days (to the best of my knowledge). The early
Arabs did not take kindly to the cruel barbaric European methods of burning
people alive or crucifying them or chopping them down with axes. The Gauls (ancestors of the French and Belgians) sometimes put people in wicker baskets and roasted them alive. In
those days, quickly chopping heads was a humane method.

Other countries have brain drains. The Saudis have their own kind of drain: a shortage of executioners who chop heads by the sword every Friday in various cities. Once I tweeted, flippantly, that they should recruit women to do the job. Best to end the death penalty worldwide, starting with Texas.

Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Islam, UAE, Women

Stoned in Abu Dhabi: Stoned Women, Stoned Shaikhs……….

         

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“ABU DHABI // An adulteress no longer faces being stoned to death after proving to a court she is not a Muslim. J D, from the Philippines, admitted adultery at the Criminal Court today but told the judge that she was a Christian. After the judge confirmed her statement from his case files, he cancelled an earlier decision to appoint a defence lawyer to represent her. If the woman had been a Muslim, she would have faced the possibility of being stoned to death if convicted of adultery. But Sharia penalties apply only to Muslims, so she now faces a minor custodial sentence and deportation…………”

Interesting interpretation of this barbaric sentence of stoning adulterous women. It is usually women who get stoned, mainly because they tend to confess quicker under beatings and other forms of intimidation. The man, the jack-hole, can deny it, especially in a case of rape where the woman is the injured complaining party. That is what often happens, that is why they don’t have many court rape cases in some countries, like Pakistan. Fear.
I suspect they have mild sentences for some ‘expatriate’ women because it is good for the tourist business. I also imagine any Muslim woman faced with a sentence of stoning to death might want to convert to avoid it. Wouldn’t you? But then she would face the possibility of being charged with apostasy (riddah) and a sentence of beheading under the bright Abu Dhabi sun. Damn if you do, damn if you don’t.
(FYI: there is nothing about stoning in the Quran. We probably got this barbaric type of punishment from the Old Testament. That means from you people, indirectly).
Cheers
mhg

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Death Penalty, Iran

Death Penalty and Alcoholism in Iran, about Texas………….

   

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                       Neck of the woods

“Amnesty International todayurged Iran to stop death sentences against two men, whom the Iranian authorities have not named,convicted for the third time of consuming alcohol. The men already have received 80 lashes for two previous convictions. Seyed Hassan Shariati, head of the judiciary in northeastern KhorasanRazavi province, announced that authorities were preparing to carry out the death sentences upheld by the Supreme Court in Tehran. Article 179 of Iran’s Penal Code provides for a mandatory death sentence following a third conviction for drinking alcohol…………..”

It looks like these three men need treatment, if anything, not execution. They probably need to enter a clinic rather than death row; they need the Iranian equivalent of Schick Shadel or the Betty Ford Clinic. This is a ridiculously harsh and inhumane punishment for a victimless ‘crime’. The mullahs, like most other countries in our region, are too fast with judicial murder. The Muslim faith has never stipulated death for drinking alcohol, as far as I know. (FYI: I am no expert, no more than any mufti or shaikh).
The death penalty itself should be completely banned everywhere. Even in the capitals of capital punishment: Iran and Saudi Arabia and China and the USA, even in Texas.
Someone (not me of course) might add that, on the upside, Texas may decide to secede if capital punishment is ended in the United States.
Cheers
mhg
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Death Penalty, Middle East Women, Saudi Arabia, Slavery

Unholy Human Trafficking in a Holy Land………..

    

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                       Neck of the woods

“And the storybook comes to a close.
Gone are the ribbons and bows.
Things to remember, places to go,
Pretty maids all in a row………..”   The Eagles

“The Kenyan government has barred its citizens from becoming domestic workers in the Middle East, notably the Gulf region, after an increasing number of reports of violence and abuse have been reported. Women from the country have returned to Kenya with horror stories of sexual violence at the hands of the employers, mainly in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates……. Until the new rules are ready, Kenyan citizens are barred from seeking work in the Middle East as domestic workers. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia sent a team to Kenya to discuss the issue. The Saudi government insisted their laws protect foreign workers. Maids from across the globe often complain of horrible treatment in the Gulf, singling out Saudi Arabia as the main culprit of violations, including rape and sexual abuse……….”

As I posted here at an earlier date: Indonesia stopped sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia because some of them have been beheaded over there and there are many others on death row waiting for their heads to be chopped off. There have also been cases of foreign housemaids being tortured and killed by their employees. Apparently the Saudis can’t do without foreign housemaids, even though local unemployment is in the double digits (and over 30% for young adults). Their national motto seems to be borrowed from an old American campaign slogan: “Two cars and two maids in every house“. They also can’t do without beheading people.
I have also posted on this issue this past year:
Here,
as well as Here, and Here, and other dates.

Cheers
mhg
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Death Penalty, GCC, Saudi Arabia

Swords and Sorcerers: Of Elites and Peons and Fun in the Gulf GCC………….

    

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                       Neck of the woods
“A Saudi man has been beheaded on charges of sorcery and witchcraft, the state news agency SPA says. The man, Muree bin Ali bin Issa al-Asiri, was found in possession of books and talismans, SPA said. He had also admitted adultery with two women, it said. The execution took place in the southern Najran province, SPA reported. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned executions for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia. Last year, there were reports of at least two people being executed for sorcery……… No details were given of what he was found guilty of beyond the charges of witchcraft and sorcery. Amnesty International says the country does not formally classify sorcery as a capital offence…… Some, he explains, have repeatedly called for the strongest possible punishments against anyone suspected of sorcery – whether they are fortune tellers or faith healers…………”

The Saudi law enforcement system, of which the late Prince Nayef was the boss for decades, is an eager pursuer of all kinds of crime except one. They are especially avid pursuers of all kind of opposition to the regime, and that includes any call for “reform”. Reform is strongly opposes because it will inevitably bring down the regime, hence political prisoners are often tried as “terrorists”. That keeps the Western powers happy and content that the al-Saud are keeping their end of the bargain and working hard to protect life, liberty, and the American (and French) way of life.
Next in line are those who seek to have fun (aka fun seekers) but are not among the royals or their close retainers. (Real fun is supposed to be reserved for the elite in Saudi Arabia and in a couple of other Gulf countries. The peons are deemed beneath such suspicious activity). After that come those who try to add some magic to life in the Kingdom without Magic. Magicians, sorcerers, witches, warlocks, fortune tellers, charlatans (other than the Wahhabi clergy), and others including Ronald McDonald and your typical Pagliacci clown.
Oddly, and in spite of the severe sentence of beheading, many such characters pop up in the kingdom. Several magicians, sorcerers, witches, warlocks, fortune tellers, and charlatans are arrested every year; most are sentenced to beheading. This is a result of the interaction of two factors: (1) Desperation and poverty in what is supposed to be a very rich country. People fall for anything or anyone who promises to improve their lot in life. (2) Sheer boredom in a country where the only legal fun is in eating, drinking (soda pop), and driving round creating traffic jams while using up cheap gasoline. Some people try to break the monotony by attending mosques and funerals (one can spend a whole day, each day, offering condolences to the bereaved and accumulating heavenly merits for the future).
As someone might have said: “No worry. There are more heads where those that they chop off come from”. And that is a comforting though to the average citizen and to the executioner swinging the sword.
Cheers
mhg
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Death Penalty, Iran, Saudi Arabia

Iran and Saudi Arabia and Texas: Hungry for Executions…….

    

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                       Neck of the woods
“Ann Harrison, the deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, has severely censured the Saudi Arabian government for the execution of a group of Iranian nationals. On May 30, the Persian service of Tabnak news website reported that Saudi officials in Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, executed 10 Iranian citizens for alleged involvement in drug trafficking. In an analysis published on June 15, Harrison said that foreign nationals in Saudi Arabia face discrimination in relation to the death penalty, and executions are on the rise. As Amnesty International has documented for many years, it is true that a large number of people are executed in Saudi Arabia after grossly unfair trials, Harrison stated. ………….”


This was Iran’s Fars news agency gloating over the Amnesty International reaction to Saudi Arabia’s sudden execution of 10 Iranians. That is a HUGE number at one time, even allegedly for drug smuggling; but there have been larger “batches” of beheadings: one was in 1989 when they announced the execution of 16 young Kuwaiti men after a quick secret trial, then there was the aftermath of the Juhayman uprising in Mecca in 1979-80. It is true, Saudi courts, rather judges, pass sudden execution (by beheading) sentences often without benefit of defense and other “normal” court procedures. Yet Amnesty International has also often criticized Iran’s easy death sentences, including the recent sentence of several Arabic-speaking Ahwazi-Iranian men from Khuzistan Province. Two or three of these men were reportedly hanged this week, rather quickly and I never heard of any appeal of the sentences. This is what one AI official wrote about that:

“I must admit that I had to blink and look away for a moment when I saw the Iranian news agency headline: ‘Execution of Iranian citizens in Saudi Arabia was a medieval act’. As Amnesty International has documented for many years, it is true a large number of people are executed in Saudi Arabia after grossly unfair trials. Foreign nationals face discrimination in relation to the death penalty and executions for drugs offences are on the rise .…………However, it is bizarre for an Iranian news source to state so blatantly that “executing a foreign national for a crime less serious than murder is a sign of barbarity”. International standards do indeed prohibit the use of the death penalty except for “crimes with an intention to kill which resulted in the loss of life”, but we shouldn’t forget that Iran is second only to China…………”

Something about our region: it is in love with capital punishment, whether by beheading or by hanging or otherwise. Our region probably beats even Texas in its love for executions, and Texans are known to truly love executions be they fair or unfair. In Texas, as long as someone is executed for a crime, then Texans are happy feeling that justice was somehow done. Even if, as it sometimes turns out, the person executed is innocent of the crime for which he or she was executed. As some Texas reporter once commented: “Texans just like executions”.
I think executions should be banned, and not just in Texas or other Middle Eastern countries.
Cheers
mhg
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Culture, Death Penalty, Religion, Salafi, Saudi Arabia

The Kashghri Case: A Fatwa to Kill, a Fatwa to Boycott, a Royal Order………

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“His Grace Shaikh Salih al-Lhaidan, member of the Commission of Senior Ulema (clergy) and former chief of the High Judiciary Council today demanded that the writer Hamza Kashghari should be put to death as an apostate, even if he repents. He also demanded that Arab states of OPEC should stop all petroleum exports to Russia and China after their veto at the United Nations Security Council……”

“Saudi King Abdullah has ordered the writer Hamza Kashghri be arrested for insulting Islam in his writings and tweets….….”

This Kashghri, I haven’t read anything by or for him, has now got a double whammy. The shaikhs fatwad that he be killed, the king (no less) has now ordered his arrest. It is usually Prince Nayef’s empire that arrests people and “punishes” them, but this time his royal majesty decided to get the credit. Unlike the shaikh, the king did not tie all this to Russia and China and their UN vote on Syrian intervention. A royal decree, no less, for an arrest: only in Saudi Arabia, what we on the Gulf used to call watermelon country (with watermelon laws).

Now
 I’ve got to read something about this guy, just to see wtf he said or wrote. They say that he soon retracted what he wrote and expressed his apology, but nothing doing. In Saudi Arabia, looking at the photo of a prince with your tongue out or your middle finger extended can get you an open-ended invitation to a cell in a cellar (not a chateau type).
Cheers
mhg


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