7 Saudis Set to Be Executed by Crucifixion and Firing Squad for Juvenile Jewelry Heist

[Catherina]

Last edited Sun Sep 8, 2013, 01:41 AM - Edit history (1)

7 Saudis Set to Be Executed by Crucifixion and Firing Squad for Juvenile Jewelry Heist

(TheBlaze/AP) — Speaking over a smuggled cellphone from his prison cell, one of seven Saudis set to be put to death Tuesday by crucifixion and firing squad for armed robbery appealed for help to stop the executions.

...

“I killed no one. I didn’t have weapons while robbing the store, but the police tortured me, beat me up and threatened to assault my mother to extract confessions that I had a weapon with me while I was only 15,” he said. “We don’t deserve death.”
...

Last Saturday, he said, Saudi King Abdullah ratified the death sentences and sent them to Abha. Authorities set Tuesday for the executions. They also determined the methods.

The main defendant, Sarhan al-Mashayeh, is to be crucified for three days. The others are to face firing squads.

...

Several people were reported crucified in Saudi Arabia last year. Human rights groups have condemned crucifixions in the past, including cases in which people are beheaded and then crucified. In 2009, Amnesty International condemned such an execution as “the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”

...

Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, concluded: “It will be outrageous if the Saudi authorities go ahead with these executions…It is high time for the Saudis to stop executing child offenders and start observing their obligations under international human rights law.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/04/shock-7-saudis-set-to-be-executed-by-crucifixion-and-firing-squad-for-juvenile-jewelry-heist/

Edit: Same AP story, slightly different wording at the end, is posted at the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/05/saudi-seven-crucifixion-armed-robbery Unfortunately, the link to TheBlaze is the one that's going around twitter now so I used that. My apologies.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. But they are our allies

Makes my stomach turn

[lumpy]

37. Do you believe anything Glenn Beck's rag has to say. He's not anyone to trust to tell the truth.

The Blaze, Glenn Becks Baby

[nadinbrzezinski]

100. gee. the AP carried that

The story was picked by The Blaze and The Guardian. Go bark at the AP

[nadinbrzezinski]

103. Here you go, argue with Amnesty International as well

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[pscot]

2. Our allies

Who wouldn't want to help these guys out?

[lumpy]

38. Again do you trust anything, the bliovator Glenn Beck would say in his filthy rag, The Blaze ?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

85. Do you have any information to show that the poster was familiar with "The Blaze"

as originating with Glenn Beck.

Some and maybe all of us know who Glenn Beck is. How many of us are familiar with The Blaze?

You refer to The Blaze as a "filthy rag," and it may be. Is there a list somewhere which identifies all the filthy rag publications by Glenn Beck and others of his ilk?

[polly7]

93. Exactly.

I did a search on Saudi crucifixion and that was the first link that came up for me. I only know the Blaze is Beck's because I happened to catch a poster saying so .... here, a month or so ago. Otherwise, I'd never have had a clue.

I think people are missing the point here. Imo, any evil and nasty thing the Saudi's are doing is fair game ...... they're funding terrorists who are waging war against the people of Syria, not just Assad forces. Yet the U.S. is considering bombing over those same people - Kerry says, the Saudi's and others would bankroll it. Since when did it become alright to partner with human rights abusers to cause suffering in sovereign nations? This has absolutely NOTHING to do with humanitarian caring about anyone. Articles like this make it perfectly clear.

[longship]

3. The Blaze!!!!!! ????????

Here! Learn about The Blaze:

TheBlaze, (formerly titled GBTV), is a libertarian news, information, and entertainment television network (and affiliated properties) founded by talk radio personality Glenn Beck. The majority of its programming is broadcast from its headquarters in Dallas, Texas at the historic Studios at Las Colinas. Other programming are usually in New York City, New York.

From Wiki.

It's nothing more than Glenn Beck bullshit, lying, rubbish.

I suggest that you self-delete this trash.

[Brewinblue]

16. The Guardian has the same article.

It's off the AP wire in Cairo.

Not sure why OP chose to use The Blaze as the source, it truly is a sick, fucked up site.

[eridani]

24. Note: if you have information from a shitty source, it really doesn't take THAT much longer

--to google a more credible source. Let's not be sloppy with this--it brings down DU property values.

[lumpy]

41. DU property values ? LOL

[eridani]

44. We do have a reputation for being way ahead of the MSM on news items

That's "property values" of a sort.

[HardTimes99]

17. The link in Catherina's OP suggests that the story is dual-sourced to both The Blaze and

to the AP (also no paragon of journalistic excellence but still a widely accepted surce). When I clicked to go to the Blaze, its own by-line suggested that same dual-sourcing (from its own sources and wire-service reports).

Since you're taking issue with the sourcing, are you claiming that the substance of the story is fabricated from whole cloth?

[longship]

33. No, I just question the source, as one should with The Blaze.

But I am bandwidth limited here. So I have to go with what I can see. I make mistakes occasionally. Mea culpa.

However, regardless of source, this story has a stink to it, especially since Glenn Beck has published it. I remain skeptical until this has been vetted.

[nadinbrzezinski]

141. The Blaze ran the AP wire story

That is not a Blaze story, but an AP story that the Blaze chose to run, together with oh the Guardian, for example.

There are rules on how subscribers to the AP wire use their stories, and the AP are fanatical to protect their IP. Incidentally, the same applies to Reuters and AFP for example.

The Union Trib, my paper of record, is worst than the Blaze, and they also use wire stories regularly. Glen Beck's project is mostly a news aggregator, with a few native stories.

If I see a wire story, don't care what the site is. What matters is who is the news originator, not the aggregator.

I realize people who do not work in media realize this.

[longship]

143. I was corrected earlier in this thread.

I am glad to recant my skepticism, but horrified by the consequences.

As always.

[nadinbrzezinski]

145. I posted that far more as education

We are so happy when we get our own photos of principals. Running an AP photo of oh Nancy Pelosi can get expensive as hell. A wire story, it can get painful

[cvoogt]

4. they use crucifixion on their own people

Time to bomb them?

[JI7]

5. the Saudis really suck, but the Blaze is not credible

[Catherina]

18. The story is 100% credible and verified.

Here, have the Guardian link instead:

Saudi seven face crucifixion and firing squad for armed robbery

One of group to be executed, speaking from cell on smuggled phone, says most of ring were juveniles at time of thefts

....

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/05/saudi-seven-crucifixion-armed-robbery

Or take Amnesty's word about the crucifixions

...

His severed head was then sewn back on to his body, which was later hung from a pole in a public place, an act known in Saudi Arabia as a crucifixion.

“Amnesty International opposes all executions, as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “In this case, the crucifixion of the condemned man’s body after his beheading adds to the sense of degradation and is repugnant.”

Very little is known about Muhammad al-Shammari’s trial. Death sentences in Saudi Arabia are invariably imposed and carried out after secret unfair trials.

...

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/saudi-arabian-man-beheaded-and-crucified-20091208

[JI7]

20. i know they execute, but the amnesty one says it's for rape, your OP is another story saying it's

for theft.

[Catherina]

39. Because the Amnesty excerpt is about a past crucifixion. It's not the first one

I was just using that to show what Amnesty had to say as it was linked in the article.

Here's another one from May.

Five Yemeni men were beheaded and “crucified” this morning in the city of Jizan, while a Saudi Arabian man was executed in the south-western city of Abha.

“Saudi Arabia’s increased use of this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is deeply disturbing and the authorities must halt what is a horrifying trend,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

“The Kingdom must immediately establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing capital punishment.”

Pictures today emerged on social media appearing to show five decapitated bodies hanging from a horizontal pole with their heads wrapped in bags.

The beheading and “crucifixion” took place in front of the University of Jizan where students are taking exams.

....

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[Bolo Boffin]

6. THE BLAZE????

So this is what the Obama hate has come to. People are dragging back bullshit from Glenn Beck's vanity press.

What's next, Catherina? Links to Stormfront? I mean, Jesus Damn Christ already.

[JI7]

12. and the thing is there are credible sources about how bad SAudi Arabia is

but i guess people are so used to dramatizing , sensationalizing things that it's not enough so resort to things like this.

[Bolo Boffin]

21. Oh, yeah, the Saudis have a brutal judicial system

This may actually be true. But damn.

[hughee99]

22. What does the OP have to do with Obama? n/t

[Bolo Boffin]

26. The OP is finding every possible story to resist Obama's Syrian proposal

One current (and repeatable) theory among people denying that Assad gassed the rebels is that the Saudis supplied rebels with sarin. They could then gas themselves and their families, blame Assad, and draw America into the civil war.

Obama is of course carrying the Saudis' water in this scenario, so by painting the Saudis in the worst light, it's meant to reflect onto him.

[polly7]

31. I've never seen anyone say the Saudi's supplied the rebels with Sarin, though it's completely

possible. But did you know they sent their death row prisoners to fight Assad or be beheaded? Why do they want to inject such desperation and brutality into what started as a peaceful uprising by the actual people of Syria? Why would Kerry say they'd bankroll the whole thing? And we're supposed to believe any of this has a single thing to do with people being gassed? Uhhhh ..... no. They're vultures, with their bloody eyes on Iran.

[Bolo Boffin]

43. Oh, was it Israel supplying the sarin in the stories you saw?

After all, someone had to get the sarin gas to the rebels so they could kill their own families. Sarin doesn't grow on trees.

[polly7]

45. Uhhhh, no.

I never really saw anything about anyone but the UK supplying Syria with Sarin.

[Bolo Boffin]

46. But that's about Assad having chemical weapons.

That doesn't get chemical weapons into the hands of the rebels so they can carry out a false flag attack. Believe me, those stories are around.

[polly7]

47. I'm assuming that IF the rebels used gas, they could have gotten it from pretty much

any of the people supplying them with all of their other weapons. Or even from one of the stockpiles. I don't know who used the gas, which is why I said IF. You don't know either.

[delrem]

49. 100% correct. *it is not known*, and "secret classified evidence" is for kindergarten.

[polly7]

53. Yep. nt.

[Bolo Boffin]

50. And the Saudis are one group supplying them, and thus the need to paint them in the worst light.

I do know this: the guy who ended the Iraq War and is ending our involvement in Afghanistan and kept our involvement in Libya to the bare minimum is saying Assad did it. Many others have walked into a room with the classified evidence and come out saying Assad did it. Elizabeth Warren says Assad did it.

That's good enough for me for now.

[polly7]

52. It shouldn't be good enough for anyone who actually DOES care

about the people of Syria in a position to decide the fate of millions. Though it doesn't make any difference to me who used the gas, horrible as it was, and my heart goes out to everyone it hit ... there still is no legal cause for a foreign military strike, but for the UN members and others who are basing their decision on having proof, it had better be indisputable. Is it??? Not from what I've been reading. Not by a long shot.

[delrem]

57. In '03 you'd be explaining those a,b,c's to a bush-bot, but it's '13 and it's an obama-bot.

That's the sorriest sentence that I've ever written.

[Bolo Boffin]

60. "it's an obama-bot" - I'm not an "it."

Incivility doesn't become you.

[delrem]

63. well, y'know, a bot's a bot.

People distinguish themselves from bots by deviating from the script given (in this case) to warmongering bots.

I haven't seen that.

[Bolo Boffin]

69. So that makes you an Assad-bot then? n/t

[delrem]

71. No, it makes me a disbeliever in war propaganda for yet another target on the PNAC list.

But you'll NEVER admit to having clue one about PNAC, and you'll NEVER admit that you're pushing the PNAC war agenda.

You stop at disseminating war propaganda.

[Bolo Boffin]

75. But you're fine with anti-Saudi war propaganda?

Because that's what this thread is: anti-Saudi war propaganda.

[delrem]

76. You lie. Nobody is promoting war on Saudi Arabia.

It's like your feet don't set down in this universe - --

[Bolo Boffin]

78. I never lie. The Saudis are supporting the Syrian rebels.

Painting them in the worst possible light is what this thread is about. It's anti-Saudi war propaganda.

I never lie.

[delrem]

81. The US is supporting the Syrian rebels, and using Saudi Arabia/Qatar/Turkey as fronts.

Nobody is proposing war against the USA, or Saudi Arabia. The USA and Saudi Arabia are the *aggressors*, and NOBODY ATTACKED THEM. When people explain the character of these powers, the USA and the House of al Saud, etc., who started and are ramping up a war of aggression against a country that *did not attack them*, that isn't "war propaganda".

Here's my conclusion: you're so heavily invested in warmongering newspeak and its twisted "logic" that I can't converse with you, since we don't speak the same language. So this is my last response to you.

[Bolo Boffin]

83. Assad's character can be clearly seen in his use of sarin gas against the rebels.

Au revoir! La Resistance lives on! We'll always have Paris!

[Comrade Grumpy]

119. Sorry that shining a light on Saudi misbehavior offends your sensibilities.

[Bolo Boffin]

121. Watching DU turn into Propaganda Central offends my sensibilities.

You think any of this "light shining" would be here, otherwise?

[Bolo Boffin]

58. Right.

Have a good life.

[polly7]

61. ??? Ok .. but thank you very much! You, too:) nt.

[TheMadMonk]

80. You are aware that there are multiple anti-regime factions?

Factions which hate each other every bit as much as they hate the ruling regime.

I find it perfectly credible that one might use their rivals in this way, or for one of the factions from entirely outside the country to use the locals.

[Bolo Boffin]

82. Yes, I posted a link to an article explaining the major groups yesterday.

But as far as the Israel- or Saudi-supplied stories, I'm just reporting what I have actually seen people arguing in places.

[Uncle Joe]

129. Here's one link that says they did, but it attributes the tragedy to an accident.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/09/02/syr2-s02.html

MPN published an article with interviews with opposition fighters on the ground in Ghouta. Its two authors are Jordanian freelance journalist Yahya Ababneh and Dale Gavlak, a longtime correspondent for the Associated Press, based in Amman, Jordan for more than two decades, who currently reports for AP and National Public Radio, as well as MPN.

Those interviewed included Abu Abdel-Moneim, whose son was among 13 opposition fighters killed in a tunnel used to store what were apparently chemical weapons.

Abdel-Moneim said the weapons were supplied by a Saudi named Abu Ayesha, who leads a rebel battalion. He described some of the weapons as having a “tube-like structure,” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.” They were stored in tunnels, while the opposition fighters themselves slept in nearby mosques and private homes.

(snip)

An opposition leader in Ghouta told MPN that the Al Nusra Front, one of the main Islamic fundamentalist militias operating in Syria, had custody of the chemical weapons. “They do not share secret information. They merely used some ordinary rebels to carry and operate this material,” he said. “We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions.”

[polly7]

140. Thanks for this, Uncle Joe.

I remember seeing a picture of one of the crude-looking tubes but haven't seen this. It makes the whole 'how ridiculous to think it could have been anyone but Assad argument' a bit weak. When Saudi Arabia is willing to send its death row inmates to Syria to make things worse, I can't imagine why they wouldn't be arming them with anything and everything, no matter how horrific.

[delrem]

48. People who stand foursquare alongside the House of al Saud are fucked up.

Obvious as that is, some people have to be clued in.

[Bolo Boffin]

62. So I'm standing foursquare alongside the House of al Saud because

I'm pointing out that Catherina had drug this piece of shit article back from the piece of shit Blaze and that ignoramus Glenn Beck in an attempt to "both sides do it" balance out Assad's atrocity?

Yeah, that's pretty much a bullshit claim, delrem. Thanks for playing, though.

[delrem]

66. Sigh. I think you're underinformed w.r.t. to the douchebag House of al Saud.

But if you like to out on a limb defending those douches, go for it Mr. Boffin.

For the rest of us, we're informed. And in the case of Saudi Arabia and the House of al Saud, that info comes kinda like wading into a sewer and having to analyze the muck on the bottom, in order to understand why the USA is relying on such muck to front for it in a war. It isn't easy, Mr. Boffin. Not easy at all. So I can understand your reluctance.

But sheeee..... CAN'T YOU FUCKIN' WELL SMELL IT???

[Bolo Boffin]

68. Assad's sarin victims can't smell the sewer of the House of Al Saud anymore.

They're dead.

[delrem]

77. That's pure CT, since there's no proof of your assertion.

That's pure CT, and it's pure war propaganda, because most certainly it is being used as pretext for war.

Get the difference?

[Bolo Boffin]

79. CT is the notion the rebels gassed themselves on August 21.

Something for which absolutely no evidence has been presented. But Obama has evidence of Assad's culpability, and people as wide ranged as Elizabeth Warren and John Boehner accept it as conclusive.

So your assertion that "there's no proof" of Assad's guilt? That's pure war propaganda.

I got the difference.

[Comrade Grumpy]

122. And the tens of thousands of Syrians who died because the Saudis paid for this revolution?

The Saudis have spent billions trying to overthrow Assad.

Hell, they're even offering to pay us to do it for them.

At the same time they engage in deplorable human right abuses themselves.

[Bolo Boffin]

124. So Assad using chemical weapons is justified or can't be answered?

It would be wrong for us to enforce an international norm because the Saudis have dirty crucifying hands?

[nadinbrzezinski]

102. Here, via amnesty international

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[Bolo Boffin]

112. Amnesty International is reporting on my standing foursquare with the Saudis? How do I rate?

Is it possible you cannot see my bone of contention here is Catherina linking to the Goddamned Blaze and that unrepentantly?

[nadinbrzezinski]

113. The blaze got one right like a damn broken clock

After they picked the AP wire from Cairo, with The Guardian as well

I got one suggestion fer ya, use trash thread if it insults your sensibilities, or better yet, ignore poster.

[Bolo Boffin]

115. I don't give a good goddamn if the Blaze got anything right. Promoting that piece of shit Glenn Beck

has no place here at DU. Ever. Under any circumstance.

[nadinbrzezinski]

117. Well, be consistent and do not, under any circumstance,

turn on msnbc either, since they were talking to one of their reporters.

[Bolo Boffin]

118. Your concern moves me. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

120. What? I am not willing to disregard a story

Just because an inconvenient source carried it. If you are so gung ho, turn off your tv as well.

[Bolo Boffin]

123. Catherina had a choice. She chose The Blaze.

She had another choice and still does: remove the link to the Blaze and replace it. She didn't.

Your sudden concern with Saudi crucifixions is noted.

[nadinbrzezinski]

125. It's far from sudden

And the blaze is the AP wire story.

Now, in a slight change, when are you, yes you, enlisting? You are the one pushing for war, not the OP

[Bolo Boffin]

126. Well, that's good to know, though I don't see how you have been informing us of Saudi crucifixions

up to now. Or beheading. Your sudden interest in informing us about them is noted. Better?

I have a brother in the military. War touches me. Thanks again for all of your concern in this matter.

[nadinbrzezinski]

128. Good to know, how about you?

And in case you wonder in my youth I was a humanitarian worker. This interest is far from sudden.

What do you want to know of Batallon 100 of the Salvadoran Military? How about the Guatemalan SF troops and their less than nice and humane behavior with the Maya? (Actual genocide, like by the actual definition in the latter case).

It was all but nice. So your horror at an AP story is disingenuous at best.

It's an inconvenient truth...the Wahhabi regime is SA is horrific, with a human rights record that would make Rios Mont blush.

[Bolo Boffin]

130. My horror is not at an AP story. My ire is at a link to the goddamned fucking Blaze.

I am being as clear, direct, and pointed about that as I know how to be. Your ability to miss that point is astounding.

[nadinbrzezinski]

132. And I already told you

Trash thread, ignore poster and turn msnbc off as well.

How much more direct can I be?



The rest of us are adults and can figure this shit up. Personally I am against censorship. But that is just me.

[Bolo Boffin]

133. So if the link to the AP story had been to Stormfront, that would be fine with you?

I'll keep that in mind.

[nadinbrzezinski]

134. Stormfront and AP are like water and oil

Mostly Stormfront considers the AP a Jewish controlled cabal.

The Blaze, with all it's Beck related issues, actually behaves like a media outlet and runs the wire, for the same reason the UT does. FYI, the Blaze is moderate compared to my local paper of record.

As I said, we all can figure this shit out. But the AP, I s'pose you don't realize this, has rules as to how their material can be used by other media, or they stop feeding that outlet. And yes, the AP is fanatical about protecting their IP, again, don't exect you to know this.

So pretty much, blaze, ap wire, the Chicago Trib, the Guardian, it matters not

[Bolo Boffin]

135. Word salad, all to say that a link to an AP story via Stormfront would be fine with you.

Or correct me if I'm wrong. Censoring links to Stormfront is OK with you here at DU. Yes or no?

[nadinbrzezinski]

136. Word salad

The last refuge of the scoundrel.

I am media. I just explained to you why it matters little where you find a story from the AP wire, or Reuters or AFP for that matter.

You can't deal with that, it's fine. I don't have to keep this conversation going, or consider you any longer part of the universe of people I interact with in this place.

Have a wonderful life pushing for another war of choice. Good bye.

Oh and please proceed with the insults Sir.

[nadinbrzezinski]

137. FYI before I go

Storm front is not media, nor does it carry the AP wire.

[Bolo Boffin]

139. As I just went and saw, they do link to AP stories at Stormfront.

FYI.

[Bolo Boffin]

138. I'll mark you down for a yes, then.

Links to Stormfront are fine with you.

By the way, just on a lark, I popped over to Stormfront. They have links directly to the AP as well as CNN and other news groups they no doubt would consider mouthpieces for international Jewry. So the question I put to you is a relevant one, despite your squid ink denials. Feel free to correct me on your position on links to Stormfront any time you like. Goodbye for now!

[Violet_Crumble]

84. Who's standing foursquare alongside the Saudis?

Much as their real life Game of Thrones style judicial system leaves me feeling sick, I'm a huge fan of the Saudi Peace Plan. I don't think that puts me in the 'foursquare alongside' category', anymore than my suspicion that the OP posted that in some weird attempt to do a SEE? SEE HOW EVIL THOSE CRUCIFYING BOMBING SYRIA SUPPORTING SAUDIS ARE!!! thing slips me into that category.

Anyone who isn't aware of what Saudi Arabia gets up to (while I've never seen the OP post on things like this before there's been a lot in the media over time and a lot posted by other DUers) would be few and far between so I am very suspicious of the motives of the OP in posting this. I totally oppose any attacks on Syria and still don't know if it was Assad or the rebels who carried out the gassing, but I don't see any connection between this OP or the Hillary Clinton gets bestowed with Saudi gifts one and Syria.

[delrem]

86. Oh...Kay

Of course the Syrian war has nothing to do with the Saudi Peace Plan, which to my mind is a lovely piece of paper but isn't likely to influence any situation. The Palestinians are fucked and Kerry's theatrics are, like, zero on the event horizon - and he knows it. He's not an "honest broker" there, either.

But that's about the Saudi Peace Plan, Violet, not about the House of al Saud, or about how the House of al Saud along with the whoever emir of Qatar for a time has fronted for the USA in this so-called "Syrian civil war". I *don't* have to explain about "Friends of Syria", or the entire history - because you're well read.

I'm not a black 'n whiter. I'm a particularizer, and I try to be a careful generalizer, and I think when the topic is as particular as this, a US run up to a bombing campaign in the middle of the aforementioned "Syrian civil war", it's fair for me to expect that any of my statements e.g. "standing foursquare alongside the Saudis" would be taken only in that particular sense.

[Violet_Crumble]

87. And you'd agree that Syria has nothing to do with Saudis crucifying people?

Because I pointed out the Saudi Peace Plan to show that shit people can sometimes come up with really good things. Whether it's an accident or not, I really don't care. So I don't see any connection between the Saudi judicial system and its support of a US attack on Syria. Both are shit, but different sorts of shit...

[delrem]

91. Yes, I totally agree.

Demonization and Deification, the most go-to generalizations, are never sound.

Thanks for reminding me.

[Bolo Boffin]

89. LMAO! So your gross generalization about standing foursquare

with the Saudis is only meant to be applied to this particular situation?



Go on, pull the other one...

[lumpy]

54. Looks like this story was posted as ammunition against the push to do something about the

atrocities in Syria. Everything is being dragged out of the attic to prevent anything from being done about it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

114. Are you, or your kin, signing up?

[joshcryer]

73. You snark but the "70% are pro-Assad" poll came from RW sites.

StormFront in particular is one of the sites that source it and is one of the highest hits on Google.

So yes, some DUers are using cites attributable to StormFront.

The reality is that a lot of pro-Assad twitter followers are racist scum.

I don't know why anyone would follow them.

[The Straight Story]

7. As so many are recently fond of saying: Dead is dead, does not matter how you die

We execute people the US and they are just as dead.

[snappyturtle]

8. And the Saudis would fund our 'excursion" into Syria for

putting people to death with gas.

Personally, I would choose gas over crucifixion.

Edit: Now that I have first seen the other posts, I guess this
report could be bogus. I'm not familiar with the Blaze.
Anyway, I still stand by my choice!

[lumpy]

51. At least those executed were criminals (as far as we know).

Apparently it was reported in the UK's Guardian newspaper.

[jmowreader]

67. The Saudis don't do crucifixion the way most of us think of it

I thought they were going to nail this poor bastard to a cross and leave him to bake for three days, and you probably do too. Nope: the Saudis behead the poor bastard, sew his head back on, and hang him from a horizontal pole for three days so his family can agonize over his demise longer.

Somehow, I think this is worse, at least for the family.

[polly7]

9. Brutal monsters.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/05/saudi-seven-crucifixion-armed-robbery

Saudi seven face crucifixion and firing squad for armed robbery
One of group to be executed, speaking from cell on smuggled phone, says most of ring were juveniles at time of thefts

Associated Press in Cairo

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. Sickening!

OIL! OIL! OIL!

[lumpy]

55. Oh for god's sake.

[delrem]

72. Exactly. Wars in the ME are never about oil, pipelines, and imperialist power.

Never have been, never will be. Believe me, because I say it.
Wars in the ME are always about truth, democracy, freedom, God and the american way.

[nadinbrzezinski]

104. Once again go argue with amnesty

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. at least the Saudis are our allies in trying to free Syria from tyranny

[ocpagu]

144. Well, if the Saudi dinasty is so interested in freeing people from tyranny...

... why don't they start by deposing themselves?

[Tx4obama]

13. Got a link that doesn't go to Glenn Beck's website?

[Bluenorthwest]

95. It's an AP story, here it is in the Guardian UK

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/05/saudi-seven-crucifixion-armed-robbery

Other details

http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/saudi-arabia/report-2013

[JI7]

14. the Blaze is owned by Glenn Beck

[hrmjustin]

15. Monsters! These are our "allies".

[jsr]

19. They've all been shot.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/03/201331221118103218.html

The Associated Press news agency quoted a resident who witnessed the execution as saying that the seven were shot dead by a firing squad, a first in the kingdom, which traditionally has beheaded convicts sentenced to death.

[lumpy]

59. Is it possible the Guardian, The Associated press pumped up the reporting to make it look

in the worst possible light? Glenn Beck's Blaze is not to be trusted with the truth about anything, of course. I had heard that Saudi Arabia are taking steps to use more humane methods of punishment.

[delrem]

74. Well, if you heard that Saudi Arabia is taking steps to be humane, it must be true!

I've heard that members of the House of al Saud tend to congregate at hot spots like Las Vegas and Monaco where they blow their countries assets and inheritance on the most disgusting debauchery, and they park their yachts off the French Riviera when they're slumming. I've heard that the extreme fundamentalist wahhabism that they inflict on the their Saudi *subjects* doesn't apply to themselves, except during special photo-ops when they pretend to be keepers of some Islamic flame, and that in the most cynical fashion on the face of this planet they use religion as a means of social control.

I've heard that their operative, Bandar Bush, is a war criminal who funds al Qaeda amongst other criminal organizations, and operates with untold billions of cash stolen from the people -- in order to enforce and expand the Saudi dictatorship. That Banda Bush is "the go-to man" for the US Syrian war.

But hey, you heard that the House of al Saud has learned about the term 'humane', and so all is fine.

[muriel_volestrangler]

88. That Al Jazeera report also says one was originally sentenced to 'crucifixion'

The original sentences called for death by firing squad and crucifixion.

AP said:

Several people were reported to have been crucified in Saudi Arabia last year. Human rights groups have condemned crucifixions in the past, including cases in which people are beheaded and then crucified. In 2009, Amnesty International condemned such an execution as "the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment".

Amnesty International said:

Late last week, we found out about seven young Saudi Arabian men who were scheduled to be executed on March 5th, by firing squad. More shockingly, one of the men, Sarha Al Mashayekh was sentenced to crucifixion following death. Yes, you read that right, crucifixion; the excruciating method of execution used by the Romans, amongst others, around 2000 years ago. Today in Saudi Arabia, this would involve the upper body (along with the separated head if beheaded) being tied to a pole in a public square. The idea is that this gruesome sight acts as a deterrent to other would-be criminals.

http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/urgent-action-network-blog/horrible-histories-or-grim-reality-saudi-arabia-and-death-penalty

So, no, neither AP, The Guardian, nor even the Blaze pumped it up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

111. How about Amnesty International

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[Iggo]

23. Them's our buddies!

[TreasonousBastard]

25. The Blaze is a POS rag, but the AP does confirm the original story...

The sentence was imposed back in March and postponed.

I haven't looked any further to see if it was actually carried out.

On edit:

I see above that they have been executed-- for robbing a jewelry store while in their teens.

How civilized of the Saudis that they have advanced to the firing squad. Another 50 years and they might get to lethal injection to kill their teenaged thieves.

[hughee99]

27. Reading the headline, I thought they were going to both crucify AND shoot the same people. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

90. That is correct - see #88

In the order of 'shoot, then crucify'. It's along the lines of displaying chopped-off heads on poles.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

28. It's ok, they used guns.

Guns are allowed.

[eridani]

29. Our noble allies who want to pay us to send "Christians to Beirut; Alawites to the grave" n/t

[Warpy]

30. I think I might prefer a firing squad

to having my hands chopped off, the other brutal punishment for theft.

[David__77]

32. This is part of Obama's "coailition of the willing" on Syria.

...

[gopiscrap]

34. Holy fuck I didn't even know

there were still crucifixions going on on a regular basis anymore

[longship]

35. That's bullshit. No crucifixions.

That's Glenn Beck conflation. It's what happens when one cites The Blaze.

Apparently.

[polly7]

36. You seem to be wrong on that.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law under which people convicted of murder, rape or armed robbery can be executed, usually by sword.

Several people were reported to have been crucified in Saudi Arabia last year. Human rights groups have condemned crucifixions in the past, including cases in which people are beheaded and then crucified. In 2009, Amnesty International condemned such an execution as "the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment".

Abha is located deep in the south-western province of Asir. Southerners face systematic discrimination and people there are perceived as second-class citizens compared with those in the most powerful central region, where the capital and Saudi Arabia's holy shrines of Mecca and Medina are located. Political analyst Mohammed al-Qahtani said the central region gets the best services and treatment.

"The verdict is very harsh, given all the circumstances of detention and trial with no access to lawyers, but part of the problem is selectivity," he said. "If one person belonged to political heavyweight regions, the verdict wouldn't have been harsh," he added. "The south is marginalised."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/05/saudi-seven-crucifixion-armed-robbery

[longship]

40. Sorry. I want better sources on this.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. If Saudis are crucifying, that's huge news. I would expect that it wouldn't be limited to AP, Guardian and Glenn Beck's The Blaze. I would expect that the latter two picked it off the AP "wire", so we only have one source and two conflations.

I'll wait for confirmation.

The Saudis are still pigs.

[polly7]

42. For pete's sake .... all you have to do is a quick search on it.

Crucifixion is still used as a rare method of execution in some countries.

Saudi Arabia

Several people have been executed by crucifixion in Saudi Arabia in the 2000s, although on occasion they were first beheaded and then crucified. Most recently, in March 2013, a robber was set to be executed by being crucified for three days.[97]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion




The use of capital punishment in Saudi Arabia is based on Sharia (or Islamic law) and is prominent internationally because of the wide range of crimes which can result in the death penalty and because it is usually carried out by public beheading. In 2011, the Saudi government reported 26 executions in the country.[1]Foreigners are not exempt.

Methods and scope[edit source | editbeta]

Saudi Arabia has a criminal justice system based on a hardline and literal form of Sharia law due to Islam being the official state religion.
The death penalty can be imposed for a wide range of offences[2] including murder, rape, false prophecy, armed robbery, repeated drug use, apostasy,[3] adultery,[4] witchcraft and sorcery[5] and can be carried out by beheading with a sword,[6] or more rarely by firing squad, and sometimes by stoning.

The 345 reported executions between 2007 and 2010 were all carried out by public beheading.[7] The last reported execution for sorcery took place in 2012.[8] There were no reports of stoning between 2007 and 2010,[7] but between 1981 and 1992 there were four cases of execution by stoning reported.[9]

Crucifixion of the beheaded body is sometimes ordered.[5] For example, in 2009, the Saudi Gazette reported that "An Abha court has sentenced the leader of an armed gang to death and three-day crucifixion (public displaying of the beheaded body) and six other gang members to beheading for their role in jewelry store robberies in Asir."[10] (This practice resembles gibbeting, in which the entire body is displayed).

In 2003, Muhammad Saad al-Beshi, whom the BBC described as "Saudi Arabia's leading executioner", gave a rare interview to Arab News.[3] He described his first execution in 1998: "The criminal was tied and blindfolded. With one stroke of the sword I severed his head. It rolled metres away...People are amazed how fast [the sword] can separate the head from the body."[3] He also said that before an execution he visits the victim's family to seek forgiveness for the criminal, which can lead to the criminal's life being spared.[3] Once an execution goes ahead, his only conversation with the prisoner is to tell him or her to recite the Muslim declaration of belief, the Shahada.[3] "When they get to the execution square, their strength drains away. Then I read the execution order, and at a signal I cut the prisoner's head off," he said.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Saudi_Arabia

[lumpy]

64. It is hard to trust news organizations these days since so many are politicaly biased.

I have heard that Saudi criminal punishment has been a cruel process though out the ages and that they are wanting to join the rest of the world who are casting off those cruel practices. This country has given up some of those cruel practices and many people would like to see elimination of the death penalty. I for one.

[longship]

70. The problem with this story is multiple things.

I have never heard of crucifixion being used anywhere, not even Saudi Arabia.

I have heard of stonings, beheadings, and other horrible things. (The stonings seem to be aimed at women for some reason -- maybe they got caught driving or going to school or something, but I demure.)

But any claim to crucifixion in the 21st century has to stand a higher level of skepticism. The Sauds have given up beheadings, apparently because they have no more experts in the field of chopping off people's heads with a sword. And the last stoning I heard about was in Afghanistan -- a woman, for adultery... in public.

Crucifixion is a bad way to die. It can take days, and days. Forget the Biblical stories about a bad afternoon. I cannot believe this is true. And if it is true, I want to see it echoed beyond an AP wire.

I am skeptical.

[Bluenorthwest]

96. You are simply uninformed. From May of this year, Amnesty International

Saudi Arabia: Five beheaded and ‘crucified’ amid ‘disturbing’ rise in executions

Saudi Arabia must halt a “disturbing” rise in death penalty usage that has resulted in at least 47 state killings in the country already this year, Amnesty International urged after six more people were executed today.

Five Yemeni men were beheaded and “crucified” this morning in the city of Jizan, while a Saudi Arabian man was executed in the south-western city of Abha.

“Saudi Arabia’s increased use of this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is deeply disturbing and the authorities must halt what is a horrifying trend,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-20

I'm not going to post one, but a person can find videos if a person is playing the skeptic with human rights issues.

[nadinbrzezinski]

107. I will once again send you to Amnesty's site

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[longship]

109. Gawd. Those Saudis really are crazy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

142. They have been for a few decades

[MADem]

131. Iran is big on hanging--they use construction cranes instead of scaffolds.

It's easier to set up a "show" in the town square, to let everyone know what happens to people when they step outside the lines.

[nadinbrzezinski]

106. Once again, amnesty international

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[Brewinblue]

99. The sentences included crucifixions!

Even if they were shot, they may well have been crucified either pre or post-mortem. Post-mortem crucifixion appears to be an optional part of the Saudi mode of execution.

From Wikipedia:

Saudi Arabia[edit source | editbeta]
Several people have been executed by crucifixion in Saudi Arabia in the 2000s, although on occasion they were first beheaded and then crucified. Most recently, in March 2013, a robber was set to be executed by being crucified for three days.

[nadinbrzezinski]

105. Here, via amnesty international

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21

[Tx4obama]

56. See Comment #19. They were NOT beheaded and NOT crucified - they were shot.

[lumpy]

65. I guess that is an easier death. When I think, not so long ago, that the US death sentences

were carried out by electric chair...now to eliminate the death penalty entirely.

[Bluenorthwest]

97. Here's a case from May of this year.

21 May 2013

Saudi Arabia: Five beheaded and ‘crucified’ amid ‘disturbing’ rise in executions



Saudi Arabia must halt a “disturbing” rise in death penalty usage that has resulted in at least 47 state killings in the country already this year, Amnesty International urged after six more people were executed today.

Five Yemeni men were beheaded and “crucified” this morning in the city of Jizan, while a Saudi Arabian man was executed in the south-western city of Abha.

“Saudi Arabia’s increased use of this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is deeply disturbing and the authorities must halt what is a horrifying trend,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-20


Year after year, story after story, fact after fact.

[Renew Deal]

92. Death is death. The method doesn't matter

What does I matter if its crucifixion, bullets, or chemical weapons?

At least that's what we've heard from a bunch of people here lately.

[Bluenorthwest]

98. The crucifixtion is 'for the family' as they usually behead, sew the head back on

and crucify the body for display. Heads on pikes. Our allies. They'd pay us to invade Syria, or so says John Kerry.

[Zorra]

94. I'm sooo glad I wasn't born in Saudi Arabia. What a total RW authoritarian conservative hellhole

that place is.

Ick.

[Bluenorthwest]

101. Obama and the US have limitless tolerance for Sauid atrocity, abuse of gay people, women, and

minorities absolutely acceptable when done by the Saudis. Kerry acts as if we should look to them as moral models, as some sort of standard we should meet. His creepy adoration of the Saudis lets me know Kerry would deal with evil itself for a buck.

[malletgirl02]

116. U.S. Allies

The U.S. has a long history of ignoring atrocities committed by its allies.

[rug]

108. I hope they have enough money left after the crucifixions to pay for the attack on Syria.

[tabasco]

110. We invaded the wrong country

17 of 19 9-11 hijackers from this shithole country of savages.

[99th_Monkey]

127. I thought they had ALREADY been beheaded, way back on March 13th

"Seven Saudi men convicted of theft, looting and armed robbery were beheaded on Wednesday, according to the country's official news agency, more than a week after their families and a rights group appealed to the king for clemency."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57573995/beheadings-not-crucifixion-for-alleged-saudi-thieves/