The violence of the blows almost made me suspect as much. On Sunday evening, however, the subject was still in the headlines, and I wondered whether I would even be able to send the children to school the next day. Sentenced to 40 lashes for wearing a miniskirt in the privacy of a friend's home in Iran, Tala Raassi describes the punishment that changed her life. Saudi lawbreakers face rough justice All Rights Reserved. All OK where you are? I need to tell you something, I said, and tried to find the right words. His punishment began last week outside al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah after the Friday prayers. Ohio band member and family killed in murder-suicide, police say, Police: Mayor of College Park, Maryland, arrested for child pornography, 5 Best Destinations for a Family Safari in Africa, Trade in Your Fitbit: A Smart and Sustainable Way to Upgrade Your Tech, The Reason Why Banks and Other Businesses Require so Many Details. SAUDI ARABIA: Judicial CP. But as we were sitting together in the kitchen over cornflakes and maple syrup my phone rang. The wounds heal slowly. Are you receiving medical treatment? Yes, a doctor examined me. In 2014, a former colleague of Badawi, Su'ad al-Shammari, was charged with "insulting the messenger and the hadith" on Twitter. Protesters take part in an Amnesty International protest in front of the Saudi embassy in London against the flogging of Raif Badawi. Saudi Arabia's human rights record is once again in the headlines after news that a British pensioner living in the country will be publicly flogged for possessing alcohol. His voice was weak, but he was trying to make it sound firm. US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2001 The Flogging of liberal blogger Raif Badawi has placed a spotlight on Saudi Arabia's justice system Lashes for liberalism, prison for female driving, death for dissent are among recent. I told the children that we were going to have a few media-free days because they were watching too much television and spending too much time on the internet. However, some observers, notably Amnesty International (see external links below), reject these claims as mere propaganda by the regime; they say this Koranic rule is by no means always followed, and suggest that the floggings, at least in some cases, do in fact cause injury to the recipient. The document casts doubt on past claims that these are relatively lightly administered and meant as a symbolic humiliation rather than as serious pain. (UPDATE: but see video clip below.). How severe were the wounds that he had suffered from this brutal abuse? According to the British nonprofit, which campaigns against the death penalty, the rate of execution in Saudi Arabia has doubled since 2015, when King Salman succeeded to the throneafter the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah. Saudi judges can still order the beheading of murderers and drug dealers, but lower-level offenders will now be spared the rod and will get fines or jail time instead. My children and I are grateful for every day when they dont whip Raif again. Paragraphs 587 to 589 of this 1995 UN document refer to various Saudi flogging cases. Ill get them in front of the big mosque in Jeddah.. According to the press, 1846 recorded an unusually hot summer and this might have impaired the ability of White to recover. Detained: June 17, 2012. Never before seen Amazon tribe filmed by drone, Camera catches mailman stealing family's tomatoes, Video shows self-driving Uber hit pedestrian, Racist chants caught on camera at university, Policemen catch child falling from balcony, Camera captures kangaroo collide with cyclist, Surveillance shows Turpin siblings' escape, Million-dollar jewel heist caught on camera, See terrifying boat crash caught on video. But I saw clearly that he was striking Raif with all his might. It was full of declarations of solidarity with Raif and me: our friends were shocked at what was due to happen today. Its important that we think together about how to ensure that your children dont suffer any harm from this. What was I supposed to say? A Warner Bros. The change has followed increased criticism of Saudi Arabia's treatment of prisoners, especially political opponents under bin Salman, after scholar Abdullah al-Hamiddied in prison on Friday. US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2004 A circular issued by the Ministry of Justice and sent to the courts of the kingdom reports an abolition demanded for years by human rights organizations, which, however, harbors a small print: lashes will continue to be applied in crimes such as adultery, attack on . The Saudi authorities arrested Mr. Badawi in 2012 and put him on trial on charges that included cybercrime and disobeying his father. Children talk to each other. Repeat offenders can lose both hands, and legs are sometimes taken for other offences. A 2015 demonstration in Paris in support of Raif Badawi. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Western human rights campaigners gave more muted reactions. US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2006 Even if it didnt tell me anything good about Raifs physical state, at the same time it was positive news: at least this week they wouldnt be torturing him anymore. But they remained persistently silent, even among themselves. Reveals that the Saudi authorities have contested the UN view that judicial corporal punishment constitutes torture. November 1997: Behind Closed Doors: Unfair Trials In Saudi Arabia Public beheading, crucifixion and paralysis are all part of its ruthless and medieval justice system, which has seen record numbers executed. after they tried to take back property that ISIS fighters had stolen from their homes Women flogged thirty times. Raifs head was bowed. 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Its here that we receive journalists and stay in contact with activists all over the world who are standing by us. One of them had been sentenced to lashes, which were never inflicted. International pressure is crucial, I believe if we keep up the support it will eventually pay off. Ms Haidar, asked a womans voice. No. Raif clearly had something else on his mind. Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. Well, in Saudi Arabia, the punishment for fornication, however, is 100 lashes. The soldier, a 27 year-old south Londoner enlisted in the 7th Queens Own Hussars, apologised for not being in touch with his family due to a great deal of trouble he had been through. Floggings tended to be done with a wooden cane, the swift blows going up and down the backside of the sentenced person. I managed to keep the children away from the internet, from television and from the newspaper kiosks in Sherbrooke all weekend. Youre doing what you can. All Rights Reserved. punishment." Saudi Arabia has sentenced people convicted of homosexuality and "sodomy" to a range of penalties including corporal There are highly selective quotes from various naive letters to British newspapers upholding tough sentences. At paragraph 32 we are informed that the Saudi Arabian judiciary is "completely independent", a claim not supported by various USSD and Amnesty reports. But a video of the first installment, in front of a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, set off international outrage and Mr. Badawi was never caned again. Yes, Ensaf. Saudi govt condemns #CharlieHebdo attack as "cowardly" but flogs activist blogger @Raif_Badawi next day. Hamid was a founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) and was sentenced to 11 years in jail in March 2013, campaigners said. Supreme Court stops order of controversial lashings for convicts, Protesters in Washington DC simulate flogging of imprisoned blogger Raif al-Badawi (AFP), Abdullah al-Hamid: Saudi human rights advocate and 'national hero', Saudi Arabia courts abolish flogging as punishment. "Flogging and other forms of corporal judicial punishment violate the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. Men are buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts, with the stones used deliberately small enough to not kill the condemned in just a couple of strikes. They were not supposed to break the skin and, as the Lancet reported, experienced hands knew that the lash should have fallen in the small area between the shoulders only. "I told our children about the news last week so that they would not find out about it from friends at school. Im tough, he said, apparently quite cheerful. There was nothing I could do about it. Saudi Arabia's most barbaric punishments: From flogging to eye-gouging IBTimes UK 177K subscribers Subscribe 200K views 7 years ago From flogging to eye-gouging, IBTimes UK looks at some of the. 02:28 - Source: CNN. He offered to come home with me and jump in when I couldnt cope any more. The US Department of State report found that, although the death penalty is a possibility for same-sex sexual activity, prosecutors did not seek to impose this punishment during the year.. In the future, judges will have to choose between fines and/or jail sentences, or non-custodial alternatives like community service, the court said in a statement seen by AFP on Saturday. Well, in Saudi Arabia, the punishment for fornication, however, is 100 lashes. This comes less than a month after the kingdom executed another prince for murder. ), where a very specific number of strokes is delivered slowly and carefully. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates. In the above video, IBTimes UK explains five of the most barbaric punishments you can receive in Saudi Arabia. The inquest into the Hounslow case sparked a national outcry. This implies that the Saudi authorities draw a distinction between "moral" offences to do with sex or alcohol, punished by caning, and political or religious crimes, punished by flogging with a leather strap. It is meant to be more of a humiliation, said Mr. Coogle of Human Rights Watch, adding that he had not heard of reports of injuries. In one or two reports the offender was said to be tied upright to a post. Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, holds a picture of her husband in the European parliament in Strasbourg, France. Several press reports of notable JCP cases during 2005 are summarised, all of them already covered by me in The Archive. Less than a week after the end of the inquest, the Duke of Wellington established a limit of fifty lashes to be given for military corporal punishment. While stoning as a punishment for adultery and the amputation of limbs for theft remain technically on the books, they are rarely, if ever, carried out. At all events, this punishment is being inflicted by officials in uniform, who are presumably police or judicial officers of some sort. Thanks to Saudi Arabias brutal and inhumane treatment of blogger Raif Badawi, flogging as a punishment is back in the news. Saudi Arabian blogger and activist, Raif Badawi, is due to face his second round of 50 lashes on Friday (16 January) after being accused ofinsulting Islam. Earlier this month, human rights organisation Reprieve reported that Saudi Arabiahad carried out the800th execution inKing Salman's five years of rule. CNN's Becky Anderson reports. The most high-profile instance of flogging in recent years was the case of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes and then . Then you have the experience of the floggers. Various references to flogging, including a 1996 case in which two secondary school students were whipped for assault in front of their fellow-pupils and teachers. Camera catches mailman stealing . Hundreds of Saudis were flogged every week, according to this January 2004 report from MEMRI, which gives a flavour of the debate inside the country at that time. If this is true, the paucity of such photographs might be explained by the fact that anyone caught taking pictures of such events is himself severely punished, according to some anecdotal evidence. Raifs face smiles from the banner over our sofa, while we get together to make posters for the next demonstration. 2023 Cable News Network. I was disconcerted to see his familiar picture behind the face of a blonde newsreader. I immediately started to cry. The farriers used the cat o nine tails, a tool made up of nine knotted thongs of cotton that could be found in veterinary shops. 1994: Unwelcome "guests": The plight of Iraqi refugees Well say: Wed like you to meet them quite normally. Then all of a sudden we received the call we were so desperate for. A regimental farrier kept on flogging until the fiftieth; he then handed over to his colleague so that he could have a rest. The second round has so far been postponed on health grounds. It was too much for me. 1.6k. Crime and punishment in Saudi Arabia: Lashing, imprisonment, and other unusual punishments About one-half of all rulings examined in the current study were presided over by a lone judge. A man is seen being whipped in public. Since then our little flat in Sherbrooke has turned into a campaign office for Raifs liberation. The Saudi Media Debates Flogging by the Saudi Religious Police After fifty more had been given he took the whip again and inflicted the final fifty lashes. Excerpted from Raif Badawi, The Voice of Freedom: My Husband, Our Story. He is free," Ensaf Haidar told AFP news agency from . One will surely land himself into hot waters for being under the influence of alcohol on the plane en route to Saudi Arabia. They already guessed that my serious face didnt bode well. The new year began with an act of violence. Badawi received his first 50 lashes in January, but subsequent floggings have been postponed. IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. In the above video, IBTimes UK explains five of the most barbaric punishments you can receive in Saudi Arabia. Dermatologist Erasmus Wilson was called by Wakley to perform a third autopsy on the body of White. Im afraid so, Ensaf, Raif said. Criticism of Saudi Arabia's human rights record has grown since King Salman named his son Mohammed crown prince and heir to the throne in June 2017. She wanted me to come in. This difference in approach is supposed to reflect the idea that Saudi floggings are intended primarily as symbolic humiliation rather than intensely painful retribution, and is in line with a rule in the Koran that the operator is required to keep a copy of the holy book under his arm, so that he will not swing the whip from the shoulder but only from the elbow. Neither of them checked the soldiers pulse. Take the case of the small Arab emirate of Sharjah. What do you say when the person you love tells you that hes going to be abused in the most horrible way? The whole day was one big nightmare. Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a legal punishment in response to criticism of its use of corporal punishment, the Supreme Court has announced. Saudi blogger receives first 50 of 1,000 lashes. The children know about it, too. Again the tears came. Or Stop this inhuman regime. Many also drew parallels with the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices: Both are acts of violence aimed at gagging journalists. And there were many other comments of that kind. 1) Flogging Flogging, whipping or lashing are all used in Saudi Arabia and. As one of the witnesses told the coroner during the inquiry, blood had appeared between Whites shoulders after twenty lashes had been given. As a result, the Martial Court had sentenced White to 150 lashes. The teachers and I, along with the psychologist, will talk to the pupils. Have they done it? I asked her. No one in our house ever talked about the subject again. HRW has sometimes been prone to exaggeration in the past, but if this is true, I should think it must make Saudi Arabia pretty well unique in the world. It can be seen clearly that the official administering this whipping does not have a book under his arm (see commentary above). So we have witnesses. 2023 Cable News Network. Amnesty document (March 2000) in which two people, one male and one female, describe the experience of receiving a court-ordered flogging in Saudi Arabia. Quoted in this Nov 2007 American TV report, Human Rights Watch went so far as to say that flogging was "almost always" a component of any Saudi court sentence. Tomorrow theyre going to start enforcing my sentence. He is being held up (somewhat incompetently) against the back of a police van and punished with what is either a somewhat rigid whip or an extremely flexible long cane. Caught on camera 16 videos Saudi blogger receives first 50 of 1,000 lashes 02:28 Never before seen Amazon tribe filmed by drone 00:46 Camera catches mailman stealing family's tomatoes 00:55. Dont worry. A Warner Bros. April 2005 release from Human Rights Watch gives a bit more information about the case of 35 men sentenced to jail and lashes for "deviant sexual behaviour" at an alleged gay party. Literal eye-for-an-eye sentences have been given in the country. It also appeared immediately on YouTube when you searched for Raif Badawi and lashes. A weekly newsletter helping you fit together the pieces of the global economic slowdown. Middle East Eye. A reader of the Times wrote to the editor that had the regimental doctor put his fingers on Whites wrist he would have found that at each lash his pulse faltered. Page updated May 2021, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2000, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2001, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2003, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2004, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2005, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2006, End secrecy, end suffering - an Amnesty International briefing, case of 35 men sentenced to jail and lashes, UN Committee Against Torture, 10 May 2002, The Saudi Media Debates Flogging by the Saudi Religious Police, UN Human Rights Commission: 1997: Thematic Reports, 1994: Unwelcome "guests": The plight of Iraqi refugees, November 1997: Behind Closed Doors: Unfair Trials In Saudi Arabia. The post mortem examination of the soldiers corpse, extensively reported by the Victorian press, provoked a burning political and medical debate on the effects of flogging on the health of a human being. Theyve beaten your father, he told the children. Saudi Arabia, France and Egypt on Friday condemned Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for saying Israel should "wipe out" the Palestinian town of Huwara in the West Bank, adding to the fierce . Now, as part of his effort to reshape how the kingdom is run, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has done away with flogging as punishment, and perhaps dampened the international condemnation that came with it. Tennessee becomes first state to outlaw drag shows on public grounds, near schools. Badawi's floggings have raised an international outcry by human rights' groups and governments, including the US, Canada, Germany and Norway among others who have issued statements urging the Saudi government to drop Badawi's punishment. You cant stop them doing that. Its better if they find out from you, Robert, the social worker, tried to convince me. Will you promise me that youll be brave and not tell the children? Yes, of course. I sat down on a kitchen chair. However, no news reports to that effect have come to hand. US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2005 Ensaf Haidar believes a YouTube video shows her husband receiving a public flogging for "insulting Islam." Women as well as men may be flogged. The USSD has now decided to refer to all Saudi JCP as "lashing" and makes no reference to different implements. I didnt sleep that night. Ensaf Haidar fled to Canada from Saudi Arabia in 2014 after her husband Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger, was arrested and subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for allegedly insulting Islam through electronic channels. According to unconfirmed reports those condemned to die this way are given tranquilisers, before being taken to a public square after midday prayers. Some of those offenses are now seen as less grave in Saudi Arabia because of changes pushed through by Prince Mohammed. Neom: International companies ignore questions over human rights risks, Neom: Saudi Arabia jails nearly 50 tribespeople for resisting displacement, Morocco to hand over Saudi man facing extradition, says brother, Abdullah al-Hamid, pioneering Saudi human rights defender, dies in custody, Amnesty says Premier League 'risks being a patsy' as Saudi Newcastle buyout edges closer, Saudi Arabia has carried out 800 executions under King Salman: Report. Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam in May 2014. The phone rang several times, but I didnt answer. We must keep on fighting," said Haider. A very conservative version of Koranic law is in force in this exceptionally backward, corrupt and repressive country, a ruthless totalitarian dictatorship run by an absolute monarchy. That angered Saudi conservatives, who denounced him. If (as seems probable) the nurses did not actually do the crime, the question of punishment is irrelevant. Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a legal punishment in response to criticism of its use of corporal punishment, the Supreme Court has announced.
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