Tweet
Brothers and Sisters, I’d like you to read these very real reports of witchcraft that threaten the creed, souls and property of this country. The Saudis, whom America rightly supports, know the answer - Why do not we?
Is Mrs Sarah Palin the only one taking this seriously?
It is therefore with great relief that I am pleased that Sarah Palin has God’s Protection against such sorcery, black magic and witches.
What other present or future President can say that?
Is Mrs Sarah Palin the only one taking this seriously?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3378460.ece
A Saudi woman condemned to death for “witchcraft” is still clinging to hope that King Abdullah will spare her life after Human Rights Watch appealed her sentence.
Fawzi Falih faces imminent beheading for sorcery unless the King issues a rare pardon. But the influential rights group has stopped short of asking for intervention from foreign governments in the case, which has captured international attention and highlighted discriminatory aspects of the Saudi justice system, where courts often fail to follow due process.
Such was the case in the trial of Ms Falih, Human Rights Watch argues.
Religious police arrested the illiterate woman in 2005, allegedly beating her before forcing her to fingerprint a false confession. Her accusers included a man who claimed that she rendered him impotent with her sorcery.
In April 2006 the Saudi courts ruled the woman should be put to death to “protect the creed, souls and property of this country”.
A Saudi woman condemned to death for “witchcraft” is still clinging to hope that King Abdullah will spare her life after Human Rights Watch appealed her sentence.
Fawzi Falih faces imminent beheading for sorcery unless the King issues a rare pardon. But the influential rights group has stopped short of asking for intervention from foreign governments in the case, which has captured international attention and highlighted discriminatory aspects of the Saudi justice system, where courts often fail to follow due process.
Such was the case in the trial of Ms Falih, Human Rights Watch argues.
Religious police arrested the illiterate woman in 2005, allegedly beating her before forcing her to fingerprint a false confession. Her accusers included a man who claimed that she rendered him impotent with her sorcery.
In April 2006 the Saudi courts ruled the woman should be put to death to “protect the creed, souls and property of this country”.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091124/...c-870a197.html
Ali Sibat is not even a Saudi national. The Lebanese citizen was only visiting Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage when he was arrested in Medina last year.
A court in the city condemned him as a witch on November 9.
The only evidence presented in court was reportedly the claim he appeared regularly on Lebanese satellite issuing general advice on life and making predictions about the future.
The case is causing outrage among human rights campaigners but has made little news elsewhere despite the ludicrous nature of the charges and the extraordinary severity of Sibat's sentence.
"Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
"The crime of witchcraft is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state sanctioned executions."
Ali Sibat's supporters say he was denied a lawyer at his trial and was tricked into making a confession.
He is not the only victim of Saudi Arabia's literal witch hunt. Human Rights Watch says two other people have been arrested on similar charges in the last month alone.
It claims a lower court in Jeddah started the trial of a Saudi this month who was arrested by the religious police and said to have smuggled a book of witchcraft into the kingdom.
In another case the religious police are said to have arrested for "sorcery" and "charlatanry" an Asian man accusing him of using supernatural powers to solve marital disputes and induce others to fall in love.
In 2006 a Jeddah court convicted an Eritrean national Muhammad Burhan for "charlatanry" because he possessed a phone book that contained writings in the Tigrinya alphabet used in Eritrea.
Human rights campaigners claim prosecutors classified the booklet as a "talisman" and the court accepted that as evidence, sentencing him to 20 months in prison and 300 lashes.
Ali Sibat is not even a Saudi national. The Lebanese citizen was only visiting Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage when he was arrested in Medina last year.
A court in the city condemned him as a witch on November 9.
The only evidence presented in court was reportedly the claim he appeared regularly on Lebanese satellite issuing general advice on life and making predictions about the future.
The case is causing outrage among human rights campaigners but has made little news elsewhere despite the ludicrous nature of the charges and the extraordinary severity of Sibat's sentence.
"Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
"The crime of witchcraft is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state sanctioned executions."
Ali Sibat's supporters say he was denied a lawyer at his trial and was tricked into making a confession.
He is not the only victim of Saudi Arabia's literal witch hunt. Human Rights Watch says two other people have been arrested on similar charges in the last month alone.
It claims a lower court in Jeddah started the trial of a Saudi this month who was arrested by the religious police and said to have smuggled a book of witchcraft into the kingdom.
In another case the religious police are said to have arrested for "sorcery" and "charlatanry" an Asian man accusing him of using supernatural powers to solve marital disputes and induce others to fall in love.
In 2006 a Jeddah court convicted an Eritrean national Muhammad Burhan for "charlatanry" because he possessed a phone book that contained writings in the Tigrinya alphabet used in Eritrea.
Human rights campaigners claim prosecutors classified the booklet as a "talisman" and the court accepted that as evidence, sentencing him to 20 months in prison and 300 lashes.
What other present or future President can say that?
Comment