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WIKI
Saudi Arabia is one of approximately thirty countries in the world with judicial corporal punishment. In Saudi Arabia's case this includes amputations of hands and feet for robbery, and flogging for lesser crimes such as "sexual deviance" and drunkenness. In the 2000s, it was reported that women were sentenced to lashes for adultery; the women were actually victims of rape, but because they could not prove who the perpetrators were, they were deemed guilty of committing adultery.[5] The number of lashes is not clearly prescribed by law and is varied according to the discretion of judges, and ranges from dozens of lashes to several hundreds, usually applied over a period of weeks or months. In 2004, the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticized Saudi Arabia over the amputations and floggings it carries out under Sharia. The Saudi delegation responded defending "legal traditions" held since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago and rejected interference in its legal system.
The courts continue to impose sentences of flogging as a principal or additional punishment for many offences. At least five defendants were sentenced to flogging of 1,000 to 2,500 lashes. Flogging was carried out in prisons.[6]
In 2014, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi's sentence was increased to 1000 lashes and 10 years imprisonment after he was accused of apostasy in 2012. The lashes were due to take place over 20 weeks. The first round (50) were administered on January 9, 2015, but the second round has been postponed due to medical problems. The case has been internationally condemned and has put a considerable amount of pressure on the Saudi legal system.
UK pensioner and cancer victim, Karl Andree aged 74 faces 360 lashes for home brewing alcohol. His family fears the punishment could kill him.[7]
Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading sponsor of Islamic extremism. It is also a close U.S. ally. This contradiction, although responsible for a lot of human suffering, is frequently ignored. Yet it recently plunged back into the limelight with the Saudi monarchy’s largest mass execution in decades.
On Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia beheaded 47 people across 13 cities. Among the executed was cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a leader from the country’s Shia religious minority who was arrested for leading peaceful protests against the regime in 2011-12.
Sheikh al-Nimr was known throughout the Islamic world for his staunch opposition to sectarianism. The outspoken Saudi dissident firmly insisted that Sunnis and Shias are not enemies, and should unite against the sectarian regimes oppressing them. “The oppressed should unite together against the oppressors, instead of becoming tools in the hands of the oppressors,” he declared.
By executing a dissident who challenged sectarianism, the Saudi monarchy was only further fomenting it.
Anti-government protests demanding release of prisoners held without charge or trial continued in April and May 2011 in Qatif, al-Awamiyah and Hofuf in the Eastern Province,[39][28][29][49][50][51][52] and extended to calls for thePeninsula Shield Force to be withdrawn from Bahrain[11][53][54] and for the Eastern Province to have a constitution and a legislature.[14] Four protestors were shot dead by Saudi authorities in late November in Qatif region protests and funerals,[55] two on 12/13[56][57] and 26 January 2012,[58] and two on 9 and 10 February 2012.[59][60][61][62] In the early 2012 demonstrations, protestors chanted slogans against the House of Saud and Minister of Interior,Nayef,[63][64] calling Nayef a "terrorist", "criminal" and "butcher"[65] and throwing an effigy of Nayef at tanks.[65]Police described two of the fatal shootings as responses to unidentified gunmen who had shot first.[61][66] Eastern Province protests intensified after Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was wounded in the leg and arrested by police on 8 July.[67]Four men were killed in a protest immediately following the arrest,[68][69][70] and on 13 July,[71] with several funerals and protests following,[72][73][74] including calls for the downfall of the House of Saud.[75][76] While detained, al-Nimr was tortured and started a hunger strike.[77][78] Protest organisers insisted on the use of nonviolent resistance[79]and called for all Shia and Sunni detainees to be freed.[80] A protestor and a soldier were fatally shot in Qatif during a 3–4 August protest,[81] leading to more protests.[82][83][84]
The Army of Conquest – which also numbers the extremist groups Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa among its seven members – has a command centre in Idlib, northern Syria. Turkish officials admit giving logistical and intelligence support to the command headquarters. Although they deny giving direct help to al-Nusra, they acknowledge that the group would be beneficiaries.
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