Western Ally Saudi Arabia Sentenced a Palestinian Poet to Death for Renouncing Islam
▻http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/western-ally-saudi-arabia-sentenced-a-palestinian-poet-to-death-for-
Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh was sentenced to death by a Saudi Arabian court for renouncing Islam, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
HRW Middle East researcher Adam Coogle told Reuters he...
Arabie saoudite : un poète condamné à mort
Publié le 20/11/2015
▻http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2015/11/20/97001-20151120FILWWW00124-arabie-saoudite-un-poete-condamne-a-mort.php
Un poète palestinien a été condamné à mort par un tribunal saoudien pour apostasie, annonce aujourd’hui l’organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Ashraf Fayadh , arrêté une première fois en 2013 par la police religieuse à Abha, dans le sud-ouest du pays, a été de nouveau interpellé puis jugé début 2014. D’après Adam Coogle, spécialiste du Moyen-Orient chez HRW, le Palestinien a été condamné en première instance à quatre ans de prison et 800 coups de fouet. La peine capitale lui a été infligée en appel.
« J’ai lu les verdicts de ses procès en 2014 devant un premier tribunal puis celui du 17 novembre. Il est tout à fait clair qu’il a été condamné à mort pour apostasie », a-t-il ajouté. Le système judiciaire saoudien est fondé sur la charia et les juges sont des religieux issus de l’école wahhabite, une interprétation rigoriste de l’islam dans laquelle le blasphème et le renoncement à la foi musulmane sont des crimes passibles de la peine de mort.
Saudi Succession Hints at Shift in Foreign Role - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/world/middleeast/saudi-succession-hinting-at-shift-in-foreign-role.html?emc=edit_th_20150127
Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks portray Prince Mohammed as personally motivated to fight militant Islam and in tight cooperation with the United States.
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Jim R. 23 minutes ago
Excellent article, Ben and David. This highlights the real implications of transition politics in Saudi Arabia.
jhoughton1 23 minutes ago
I resent paying for the president to jet to Saudi Arabia and “pay respects” to a jumped-up goatherd whose country has shown no visible sign...
blackmamba 23 minutes ago
Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim Arab royal theocracy that uses fossil fuel and American arms to deny it’s people their certain divine natural...
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In one cable, he said it had been difficult to see that Saudis had played role in the Sept. 11 attacks and other incidents.
“Terrorists stole the most valuable things we have,” Prince Mohammed told Richard C. Holbrooke, a former ambassador to the United Nations, in 2008. “They took our faith and our children and used them to attack us.”
State Department officials credit Prince Mohammed with developing a distinctive approach to combating terrorist recruiting in the kingdom, working directly with the families of dead militants. By providing support to the families “and telling them their sons had been ‘victims’ and not ‘criminals,’ ” the program gave the families “a way out” and provided a public relations advantage to the government.
“If you stop five but create 50,” Prince Mohammed was quoted as saying, “that’s dumb.”
Prince Mohammed was also eager to cooperate with the United States. In 2009, he called their law enforcement and intelligence agencies “one team” and said he had asked the king for permission to maintain a special “security channel” to exchange information with Washington regardless of the ups and downs of bilateral relations. But that focus on security has included a broader crackdown on dissent.
Adam Coogle, who monitors Saudi Arabia for Human Rights Watch, said that while law enforcement under Prince Mohammed’s father had often been arbitrary, Prince Mohammed had professionalized and formalized it.
“The actual outcomes for people are worse,” Mr. Coogle said. “You did this or said that, so you are sentenced to 15 years.”
Among the laws used to stifle dissent are a so-called cybercrimes law and a terrorism law implemented last year that allows for the prosecution of acts that “undermine the security of the society” or “endanger its national unity.” The law gives the interior minister broad powers over detention and has been used to jail many nonviolent dissidents, Mr. Coogle said.
“He is the architect of the crackdown on and jailing of these activists with ludicrously harsh sentences,” Mr. Coogle said. “This is all on his watch.”