Saudi teacher sentenced to *750* lashes for open discussion of religion.

[Roland99]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/17/international/i091005S13.DTL

A Saudi high-school chemistry teacher accused of discussing religion with his students has been sentenced to 750 lashes and 40 months in prison for blasphemy, officials said Thursday.

The court ruling was condemned by human rights activists, who said Mohammed Salamah al-Harbi was being imprisoned for having an "open discussion" with students.

Al-Harbi was convicted of questioning and ridiculing Islam, discussing the Bible and defending Jews, judicial officials said Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Prosecutors acted after a complaint by students and al-Harbi's fellow teachers, officials said. The court in the northern province of al-Qassim heard the case Saturday in a six-hour trial.

I'm sure this administration will be jumping all over this and demanding that Saudi Arabia change its ways and be more like, oh, say, Taiwan?

:sarcasm:



Oh, btw, remember this from two months ago?

Bush Waives Saudi Trafficking Sanctions
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/09/21/national/w184052D94.DTL&type=printable

President Bush decided Wednesday to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers.

In June, the State Department listed 14 countries as failing to adequately address trafficking problems, subjecting them all to possible sanctions if they did not crack down.

Of those 14, Bush concluded that Bolivia, Jamaica, Qatar, Sudan, Togo and the United Arab Emirates had made enough improvements to avoid any cut in U.S. aid or, in the case of countries that get no American financial assistance, the barring of their officials from cultural and educational events, said Darla Jordan, a State Department spokeswoman.

Cambodia and Venezuela were not considered to have made similar adequate improvements. But Bush cleared them nonetheless to receive limited assistance, for such things as combatting trafficking. In the case of Venezuela — which has had a tense relationship with the United States under the leadership of President Hugo Chavez, one of Latin America's most outspoken critics of U.S. foreign policy — Bush also allowed funding for strengthening the political party system and supporting electoral observation.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Kuwait — another U.S. ally in the Middle East — were given a complete pass on any sanctions, Jordan said. Despite periodic differences, oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United States have a tight alliance built on economic and military cooperation.

*/Cheney - Spreading Democracy whereever they can run roughshod over the existing governments.

[Botany]

1. Is this the Freedom that our Iraqi stunt was supposed to spread ....

..... like a wildfire through out the mid east?

[Der Blaue Engel]

2. This is our future

It's what the Dominionists want and are actively pursuing.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

4. Yeah? Really?

Well they are not going to get it.

[Der Blaue Engel]

7. Well they've got the White House at the moment

and are working on the Supreme Court, and are shoving their "grassroots" into every courthouse in the land. We'd better wake up and sound the alarm.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

8. Having the White House

and public lashing of teachers are still a good way from each other.

But I hear you about the wake up call. It's time.

[BOSSHOG]

3. I saw some of that lashing stuff when I was in Saudi Arabia

in the 90's. Not a pretty site. They loved it when Americans were there to witness their "justice."

[TallahasseeGrannie]

5. Damn, BOSS

this is a teacher! This could be me! I had a conversation with my kids this morning when one asked whether line, an element of design (I'm an art teacher) was part of INTELLIGENT design.

ummm wellll....

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. The Wahhabists persecute anyone who doesn't agree with them

Sufis in Saudi Arabia are regularly persecuted, for our beliefs do not jibe with the Wahhabists, which, imho, does not follow the tenets of Islam any more than Pat Robertson practices the teachings of Jesus Christ.