Saudi Arabia Public Execution and Arrests

Saudi Arabia Public Execution and Arrests
    Saudi Arabia is under criticism because of the public execution this week of seven men. The court also sent two well known and non-violent civil rights activists to jail. On that Wednesday the seven men (that had been arrested for armed robbery in 2005 and 2006) were executed publicly by use of a firing squad. Many organizations criticized this execution. The European Union and the United Nations both claimed that the confessions these men provided had been coerced out of them and that some of these men had even been arrested as juveniles. This punishment was even called an act of "sheer brutality," by Amnesty International. The United Nations commissioner for human rights said that,”capital punishment may be imposed only for ‘the most serious crimes’ and only after the most rigorous judicial process. As I pointed out to the Government of Saudi Arabia before the men were executed, neither of those fundamental criteria appear to have been fulfilled in these cases.” She also is worried that the confessions these executions were based on were achieved through torture and that these allegations have not been looked into.
    Mohammad F. al-Qahtani (in the activists' case) was sentenced to 10 years in jail and Abdullah al-Hamid was sentenced to five years. These charges included calling protests, spreading "false information to outside sources," "undermining national unity," and "setting up an illegal human rights organization." Criticism has been heard from the country and claims that the judicial system only "addresses dissenting voices by silencing them." The Saudi criminal court has issued a travel ban for men once they have served their time in prison and disband the organization they created called the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association. This organization helped the families, in Saudi Arabia, of detainees who had been held with no charges or trials. Amnesty International stated that the imprisonment of these two activists was another "stain" on this Country's history of restraining or attacking freedom of expression. Philip Luther, director for Amnesty International, stated that they feel that these men were imprisoned only for using there right to freedom of expression and association and should be released "immediately and unconditionally.” There is disappointment from activist in Saudi Arabia toward the U.S. and Britain. The reason is there is a lack of public criticism of the Al Sauds (by Britain and the U.S.), but they do publicly criticize other nations that violate human rights. Clemency for the Abha Seven was rejected even though documentation was provided stating that the confessions were achieved through torture, they men were not given adequate legal representation, and that many of these men were juveniles when they committed the alleged crimes. The Saudi Judiciary was said to be, “one of the tools of state-sponsored terrorism,” by Mr. Qahtani and Mr. Hamid (both supporters of these activists who tried to keep the public updated on the trials). Despite the courts ruling Mr. Qahtani has continued to pursue the foundation's goals even though, he stated in a recent interview, "he was aware he could lose his freedom."
    This is an obvious violation of human rights on many different levels. First of all, taking someones life in one of the worse violations. Especially when these cases so obviously did not follow the laws when it comes to fair trials. They did not have good representation, the confessions were obtained through torture, and they had been arrested as mere juveniles. All of this is a violation of their right to live and their right to a fair trial. The activists were non-violently exercising their right to freedom of speech and they were arrested for it. Any organizations they created the government tried to get rid of. The courts are taking lives and taking away their right to express themselves and it was in a non-violent manner. These are all basic rights that people should have and regardless of that they are being deprived of them. This doesn't not allow the people to have any control over what their government does because they can be imprisoned or killed and without any justice for the wrongdoings.

Molly Winfree
3/22/13
3:37 am
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/saudi-human-rights-record-comes-under-new-scrutiny/

Blog 7 Saudi Arabia women & human rights – less today than in the past?

                The article I read this week is titled Saudi Arabia women & human rights – less today than in the past? As you may have already guessed it has to do with women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and it also touches on the Islamic religion and a little bit about how it came to be. According to the article women’s rights are not looking good. The government wants it to seem as though their helping but they don’t really intend to. In October Saudi Arabia announced that they were going allow women to get their law degrees and be able to plead cases in court. Women are still waiting on that, and there’s no sign that it’s going to happen any time soon. The article also says that yes Islamic rules are not quite fair to women but that the media makes them look way worse than what they really are. As apposed as we are to the out of date laws and rules they have we also need to understand the facts and know the whole story. Unfortunately the media a lot of the time is not such a good reliable source. Muhammad the founder of the Islamic religion married Khadija who was fifteen years older than her. They met when she hired him to work for her and supported him with his ideas. He later on remarried several women because many widows and were victims of crime and poverty in those times. Many people have very different perceptions of the Islamic religion and traditions but they’re not always right, it’s better to get all the facts and get informed when creating in opinion.   

http://womennewsnetwork.net/2012/12/18/saudi-arabia-women-human-rights/

Dalila Aguilar

3/20/13

12:15 AM