Saudi Judge to Consider Paralysis as Punishment

[sixmile]

Real 'eye for an eye' justice:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/19/saudi-arabian-judge-consi_n_687892.html

'A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals in the country whether they could damage a man's spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralyzing him, the brother of the victim said Thursday.

Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralyzed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than two years ago. He asked a judge in northwestern Tabuk province to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker under Islamic law, his brother Khaled al-Mutairi told The Associated Press by telephone from there.

He said one of the hospitals, located in Tabuk, responded that it is possible to damage the spinal cord, but it added that the operation would have to be done at another more specialized facility. Saudi newspapers reported that a second hospital in the capital Riyadh declined, saying it could not inflict such harm.

Administrative offices of two of the hospitals and the court in Tabuk were closed for the Saudi weekend beginning Thursday and could not be reached for comment.'

snip

'Amnesty International expressed concerns over the reports and said the rights group was contacting Saudi authorities for details.

"We are very concerned and we will appeal to the authorities not to carry out such a punishment," said Lamri Chirouf, the group's researcher on Saudi Arabia. Such measures are against international conventions against torture and international standards on human rights.

Chirouf said this was the first time Amnesty had heard of a punishment involving the damaging of a spinal cord.

"But it's hard to follow details of the Saudi justice system. People are sentenced in closed trials with no access to the public and no lawyers," he said.

According to Amnesty, in 2005, a convict in the kingdom had his teeth pulled out by a dentist because he had smashed another man's teeth out in a fight.

"We have also had cases of people sentenced to blindness because they have caused the blindness of another person," Chirouf said. "But never anything involving a spinal cord."

more at link

[FiveGoodMen]

1. And this is the bunch we DIDN'T invade!

(Not that I want to start a war with anyone, but holy shit do we have a funny way of choosing our friends and enemies)

[onehandle]

2. Our allies. nt

[KansDem]

3. And 15 of the 19 attackers on 9/11 were from this country...

...as well as the "mastermind."

[arcane1]

5. As well as News Corp's second-largest shareholder n/t

[austin_democrat]

4. Man, Saudi's whole "punishment to fit the crime" theory sounds great until something like this.

[damntexdem]

6. A punishment! Whereas in the U.S. Senate, it's business as usual.

;-)