Saudi Professor Sentenced for Speaking Out (compared U.S. to bin Laden)

[Khephra]

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- A Saudi court sentenced a university professor to five years in prison Sunday on charges of sowing dissent after he compared U.S. killings of Iraqi civilians to Osama bin Laden's terror attacks.

Saeed bin Mubarak al-Zaeer, a 57-year-old university professor, was sentenced by the court in the capital Riyadh. The sentencing took place without the presence of a lawyer representing al-Zaeer.

Al-Zaeer was detained by security forces in April after he appeared on the Al-Jazeera television station and made comments comparing the killing of civilians in terror attacks by bin Laden's al-Qaida group with Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. forces or Palestinians killed by Israelis.

The professor was detained in April for showing "blatant support and compassion for terrorist acts, and his justification of the deeds of its perpetrators -- in spite of how this goes against Islamic teachings," the Interior Ministry said at the time.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-saudi-professor-trial,0,2182726.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

[bpilgrim]

1. bush must be GREEN with envey...

no wonder they get along so well

peace

[mazzarro]

2. This kangaroo justice speaks volume about the Saudi rulers.

eom

[bogey18]

3. Where is the US Government's outrage over this

blatant disregard of individual freedom.

One of the first acts of the new puppet regime in Iraq was to kick Al-Jazeera out of the country and basically kill freedom of the press - where is the story in the US media?

The Saudis are our allies and our partners in the War on Terrorism.

WAKE UP - THEY ARE THE TERRORISTS!

[kimchi]

4. What outrage?

Freedom is messy. You gotta watch what you say, watch what you do.

Bush's Saudi buddies are just covering his ass.

Wouldn't be prudent to point it out--people might actually remember that professors and civilians here don't have a whole lotta first amendment rights, either. Best be silent and let the Saudis handle their own affairs.

Because, after all, they aren't ripe for the picking like Iraq, you know.