Another Barbaric Execution in Saudi

JupiterKid

I see that Saudi Arabia has beheaded a young Sri Lankan maid who was convicted of murdering a child in 2006 even though she was denied legal representation at her so-called "trial" and was only 17 at the time of the alleged crime.

Totally barbaric and despicable.:mad::( It is well known that many domestic servants who come from poor countries to Middle Eastern countries, and Saudi in particular are treated no better than slaves and this is also reflected in the way they are treated by the authorities when accused of commiting a crime against their employers.

Sri Lankans are rightly outraged by this barbaric execution.

Article below:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/13/saudi-arabia-treatment-foreign-workers

Biggins

As long as the oil is there, they will be allowed to do what the hell they want basically.

Chuck Stone

Medieval shit-hole.

More than 45 foreign maids are facing execution on death row in Saudi Arabia ... The startling figure emerged after Saudi Arabia beheaded a 24-year-old Sri Lankan domestic worker, Rizana Nafeek, in the face of appeals for clemency from around the world.

In 2012 Saudi Arabia executed at least 69 people, says Human Rights Watch. The previous year it executed at least 79, including five women, says Amnesty International. The death toll included one woman beheaded for witchcraft and sorcery.

Amnesty said it had grown alarmed at the "disproportionate" number of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia being executed. "As with Rizana Nafeek, nearly all migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are at great risk if they end up in the criminal justice system," said Amnesty's Saudi Arabia researcher, Dina el-Mamoun.

Amnesty said it knew of more than 120 people – mostly foreign nationals – on death row.

guardian.co.uk

Project Werewolf

The Saudis do appear to live in a bubble that protects them from the criticism levelled at the rest of the Middle East. Amazing what that petrodollar can buy.

Project Werewolf

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Medieval shit-hole.

They beheaded someone for witchcraft and sorcery. I'd laugh if it wasn't so tragic. What the fcuk is this place going to be like after the oil stops flowing and the sheikhs have pissed away all the money?

AH92

Was born there and im not surprised at this tbh. Very rascist lots as well towards any folk from south east asian countries and as mentioned by the above poster as long as oil is still there they can do whatever the f**k they like. I remember as a child I was in the car with my dad and I noticed a minor accident and the arab guy who's car got hit stepped out, took his belt out and started whacking the other driver who also came out ( he was indian or bangladeshi). It was horrific to see.

Kylo Ren

Barbaric Execution? As opposed to a civilised one?

JupiterKid

Keno 92 wrote: »

Barbaric Execution? As opposed to a civilised one?

IMO all execution is barbaric, but publicly beheading a person who allegedly committed a crime as a minor without a fair trial is especially barbaric.

Chuck Stone

Keno 92 wrote: »

Barbaric Execution? As opposed to a civilised one?

Death by chocolate?

Lightbulb Sun

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Death by chocolate?

Or death by snu snu perhaps?

a posse ad esse

I had the opportunity to work in a few Middle Eastern nations and Saudi Arabia was the worst country followed by Yemen. They treat their domestic workers like sh*te and there are so many suicides and murders being posted as accidents. This is common in most of the region. Lebanon which I thought would be more civilised do not treat them any better. They are just luckier as they have a judicial system that does not do public hangings or beheadings. However the authorities do not do much about the abuse of domestic workers.

Rape and physical abuse are quite common towards foreign domestic workers there. Unfortunately these domestic labourers are not very literate and don't know their rights. Apparently they were taught to grin and bare it from their own countries as they do not want to have a reputation as being difficult. I have heard of employers who would confiscate passports (which is illegal) once their workers arrive at the airport to make sure they don't run away. I remembered reading local papers that had images of foreign domestic labourers who gone missing and these employers posting ads who were looking for them. What makes the situation even worse for some of these labourers is that many of these nations have exit visas and if you do not have one you cannot leave the country without one.

On another note, one of my colleagues went to do his haj in Mecca. He told me of an incident where a Bangladeshi cleaner accidently bumped into a Saudi. This colleague could not believe his eyes when he saw the Saudi literally beating the sh*te out of him even though it was obvious to everyone it was an accident which the guy apologised profusely for. They were not able to intervene, even though he and others who witnessed this were either Arabs or Europeans they had no power as they were not Saudis. So being white or Arab of another nation you have no rights and respect in that nation.

As far as that region is concerned the country where I was suprised to see the people that were the most tolerant of foreign nationals was Iran. For the six months I was there, I did not see one Iranian being disrespectful to any south east Asian labourer or other foreign national for that matter.

From what I have witnessed and heard from others, I could write a book on domestic labourers in that sh*tehole.

As long as we support Saudi Arabia because of their oil this is not going to stop. They are the biggest financiers and suppliers of fundamentalists.

Sorry for the rant!

Death and Taxes

Absolutley fcuking disgusting, but not surprising, so long as they have the oil, and are seen to back the west they can do as they wish.
Can you imagine the uproar if this happened in Iran?

Zebra3

We won't hear much from America on this matter.

I wonder is it because they are best mates with the evil scum who rule S.A. or because of their own dodgy system of executions?

conorhal

a posse ad esse wrote: »

Rape and physical abuse are quite common towards foreign domestic workers there. Unfortunately these domestic labourers are not very literate and don't know their rights. Apparently they were taught to grin and bare it from their own countries as they do not want to have a reputation as being difficult. I have heard of employers who would confiscate passports (which is illegal) once their workers arrive at the airport to make sure they don't run away. I remembered reading local papers that had images of foreign domestic labourers who gone missing and these employers posting ads who were looking for them. What makes the situation even worse for some of these labourers is that many of these nations have exit visas and if you do not have one you cannot leave the country without one.

From what I have witnessed and heard from others, I could write a book on domestic labourers in that sh*tehole.

As long as we support Saudi Arabia because of their oil this is not going to stop. They are the biggest financiers and suppliers of fundamentalists.

Sorry for the rant!

Nothing to be sorry about, people's awareness needs to be raised about such issues.

You describe pretty accurately the lot of foreign workers in Saudi. I lived there for three years in the 80's when my folks were working there. At that time it was mostly Philippinos that worked as domestics, not that you'd know it, you might see a curtain twitch or a domestic ushering children out the door to school, but it you didn't often them about the apartment complex. Many simply weren't allowed to even leave the apartment. I shudder to think what went on behind those closed doors, but you heard rumors. Things like maids being raped by their 'masters' and then beaten up and abused by their masters wives for sleeping with their husbands.

Slavery was only abolished in Saudi Arabia in the 1960's, but the mentality of the slave owner certainly, as is evident from your post, didn't go away. They have an absolute contempt for foreigners, which is kind of funny because the Saudi’s wouldn’t lift finger to do a tap of work, they are utterly dependent on foreign workers, probably because something like 85% of their graduates have a degree in religious studies.

I've never encountered such arrogant and unpleasant people. If there was one country that should ,in my opinion, be bombed back into the stone age it's Saudi Arabia, the world would be a much better place for it. Saudi money has spread out across the world and with it has come their pernicious brand of Wahabist Islam. Half of the problems in Pakistan (which is on the verge of becoming a failed state) at the moment are down to Saudi funded madras’s that are churning out 'students' who can recite the Koran from cover to cover, and little else. I'd be very wary of the Saudi money that was poured in the mosque in Clonskeagh, and the money that they want to pour into building a super mosque on the northiside. Remember, he who pays the piper calls the tune, and their 'tune' is a very unpleasent one indeed.

smash

conorhal wrote: »

Nothing to be sorry about, people's awareness needs to be raised about such issues.

Apparently the best way to do it is to start a thread on AH...

conorhal

smash wrote: »

Apparently the best way to do it is to start a thread on AH...

Indeed, some facetious snarky poster is always guaranteed to bump it to the top the thread for you.....

suicide_circus

nuke the kants

Show Time

It is their culture.

Who are we to say what is right and wrong in that part of the world.

suicide_circus

Show Time wrote: »

It is their culture.

Who are we to say what is right and wrong in that part of the world.

if it was my culture to kick you in the nads, would you accept it?

Attabear

a posse ad esse wrote: »

From what I have witnessed and heard from others, I could write a book on domestic labourers in that sh*tehole.

Write that book!

Show Time

suicide_circus wrote: »

if it was my culture to kick you in the nads, would you accept it?

You would not get the chance kid.:rolleyes:

suicide_circus

Show Time wrote: »

You would not get the chace kid.:rolleyes:

but it's my culture, the way of my father and my father's father.

now spread your legs and prepare to receive the passionate kiss of my tan suede ankle boots

Show Time

suicide_circus wrote: »

but it's my culture, the way of my father and my father's father.

now spread your legs and prepare to receive the passionate kiss of my tan suede ankle boots

We have to respect the Saudi culture the same way the traveller way of life has to be respected.

kingtiger

suicide_circus wrote: »

my tan suede ankle boots

be fearful of a man wearing girls shoes :pac:

Napper Hawkins

Show Time wrote: »

We have to respect the Saudi culture the same way the traveller way of life has to be respected.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, respect is earned.

Standman

Show Time wrote: »

We have to respect the Saudi culture the same way the traveller way of life has to be respected.

Nice way to shoehorn in your own agenda

GalwayGuy2

Blame America:rolleyes:

Biggins

When the oil eventually runs out in that country, all hell will break lose.

Show Time

Standman wrote: »

Nice way to shoehorn in your own agenda

I was using the above as an example.:rolleyes:


Also i should add that it is a fairly backward and barbaric place(Saudi) to carry out executions like this on a run of the mill basis but you have to let them do there own thing no matter how you feel about it at a personal level.

runawaybishop

Show Time wrote: »

Also i should add that it is a fairly backward and barbaric place(Saudi) to carry out executions like this on a run of the mill basis but you have to let them do there own thing no matter how you feel about it at a personal level.

Says who?

GalwayGuy2

Also i should add that it is a fairly backward and barbaric place(Saudi) to carry out executions like this on a run of the mill basis but you have to let them do there own thing no matter how you feel about it at a personal level.

I don't like the term backward, but to make a quick argument, universal human rights ftw.

Wibbs

a posse ad esse wrote: »

As far as that region is concerned the country where I was suprised to see the people that were the most tolerant of foreign nationals was Iran. For the six months I was there, I did not see one Iranian being disrespectful to any south east Asian labourer or other foreign national for that matter.

Funny I've heard similar about Iran many times from many folks who had experience of the place. That it was one of the most welcoming places and culture in the region. The western(usually American) slant that they're all a bunch of mad mullahs is apparently quite wrong. Then again they have their own issues with executions and women's rights, but from what I gathered otherwise it was a nice place.

Wibbs

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

I don't like the term backward.

Oh I'd call them backward no problem. I don't have the cultural relativism quite a number seem to have. IMHO while no culture is perfect, some cultures are simply and objectively better than others.

Leftist

who cares, don't go there if you don't like it, everyone knows what saudi is.

conorhal

Leftist wrote: »

who cares, don't go there if you don't like it, everyone knows what saudi is.

Few of those that work as domestics have a choice, they typically come from empoverished parts of the world and arrive on the promise of a good job that will allow them to support their families back home.
You could just as easily ask of those eastern european girls who arrive in this country only to have their passport siezed and then end up imprisoned in brothels and moved around the country with no ability to communicate what's happening to them, 'if they don't like it they shouldn't come here'...

GalwayGuy2

Oh I'd call them backward no problem. I don't have the cultural relativism quite a number seem to have. IMHO while no culture is perfect, some cultures are simply and objectively better than others.

Yes, but that seems to imply that there culture is just a less civilized/developed culture than ours and to fix it we just have to apply what happened in our culture. While in reality, their culture has just developed in a different (and in some ways worse) ways than ours and in a different environment.

Show Time

runawaybishop wrote: »

Says who?

Lead the charge against them so my man.

Best of luck with it.

runawaybishop

Show Time wrote: »

Lead the charge against them so my man.

Best of luck with it.

Who says we must accept other peoples cultures?

Madam_X

Of course we can criticise a country in which cruelty is practised happily - take no notice of people saying we can't, just for the sake of being different.

This describes a less extreme incident, but I still found the contempt towards the woman absolutely chilling - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82303624&postcount=25

The "bomb them" comments are ironic to say the least - wouldn't that just kill all the people you claim to be concerned about?

Wibbs

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

Yes, but that seems to imply that there culture is just a less civilized/developed culture than ours and to fix it we just have to apply what happened in our culture.

Well a reformation and age of enlightenment wouldn't go amiss with a fair few cultures. The ME missed out on both of them, or if they too them on board they didn't seem to stick. Iran, Iraq, Afgahnistan and a few others were less crackpot a couple of generations ago*. And yes I would say that it's a less civilised and developed culture than many out there, including our own. I'd include quite a number of traditional cultures seen as less advanced than the west in that too, but way more civilised than Saudi Arabia.



*I would agree however that western interference buggered up progress way more than it helped, so a return to "tradition" looked like the better bet.

Death and Taxes

Show Time wrote: »

We have to respect the Saudi culture the same way the traveller way of life has to be respected.

Only you could pervert the thread so it meets your virulent anti traveller agenda!:mad:

ted1

Pretty low crime rate over there, I wouldn't knock it.

Biggins

ted1 wrote: »

Pretty low crime rate over there, I wouldn't knock it.

...Because most of it goes on behind closed doors and unreported?

krudler

ted1 wrote: »

Pretty low crime rate over there, I wouldn't knock it.

Probably because criminals don't last long

FTA69

While we're on the subject of domestic workers it's also worth mentioning that here in Europe, many of them also face appalling conditions indeed. As a trade union organiser I work with a project currently trying to organise domestic workers in London; we also put on free classes in English, IT and Art which are all taught and run by volunteer tutors from the university and community sector. When I first started tutoring these people I knew I would encounter stories of abuse but nothing could have prepared me for some of the experiences related to me, you honestly would forget that they were working in 21st Century Britain as opposed to some feudal fiefdom. The most worrying thing was that this abuse often came at the hands of British employers (barristers, company directors etc) who were deemed pillars of society outside of the home but were abusive tyrants within in. Our classes are run on a Saturday afternoon as many of the women have to lie and say they are attending religious devotions, they would be sacked if their employer knew they were attending a trade union course.

Some of the problems that they face are:

-confiscation of passports
-bullying
-assault
-sexual assault
-rape
-underpayment
-no time off
-threats
-16 hour days
-inadequate food
-inadequate lodgings

Some of these women have had to flee with nothing but a handful of clothes such was the abuse they were put under, finding themselves in the middle of a city they knew nothing about, with no English, no money, no friends and no family.

http://www.j4dw.org/about

The above link is a bit about an organisation associated with our union that advocates on behalf of domestic workers. While rightly criticising the plight of domestic workers abroad, also bear in mind that much of the same is also happening on our own doorstep.

Standman

Wibbs wrote: »

Funny I've heard similar about Iran many times from many folks who had experience of the place. That it was one of the most welcoming places and culture in the region. The western(usually American) slant that they're all a bunch of mad mullahs is apparently quite wrong. Then again they have their own issues with executions and women's rights, but from what I gathered otherwise it was a nice place.

I think the issue is that people often assume the citizens of Iran are as backward as their government and laws. In reality they are very "western" like people held hostage by a minority of nutcases in government.

The_Kew_Tour

a posse ad esse wrote: »

I had the opportunity to work in a few Middle Eastern nations and Saudi Arabia was the worst country followed by Yemen. They treat their domestic workers like sh*te and there are so many suicides and murders being posted as accidents. This is common in most of the region. Lebanon which I thought would be more civilised do not treat them any better. They are just luckier as they have a judicial system that does not do public hangings or beheadings. However the authorities do not do much about the abuse of domestic workers.

Rape and physical abuse are quite common towards foreign domestic workers there. Unfortunately these domestic labourers are not very literate and don't know their rights. Apparently they were taught to grin and bare it from their own countries as they do not want to have a reputation as being difficult. I have heard of employers who would confiscate passports (which is illegal) once their workers arrive at the airport to make sure they don't run away. I remembered reading local papers that had images of foreign domestic labourers who gone missing and these employers posting ads who were looking for them. What makes the situation even worse for some of these labourers is that many of these nations have exit visas and if you do not have one you cannot leave the country without one.

On another note, one of my colleagues went to do his haj in Mecca. He told me of an incident where a Bangladeshi cleaner accidently bumped into a Saudi. This colleague could not believe his eyes when he saw the Saudi literally beating the sh*te out of him even though it was obvious to everyone it was an accident which the guy apologised profusely for. They were not able to intervene, even though he and others who witnessed this were either Arabs or Europeans they had no power as they were not Saudis. So being white or Arab of another nation you have no rights and respect in that nation.

As far as that region is concerned the country where I was suprised to see the people that were the most tolerant of foreign nationals was Iran. For the six months I was there, I did not see one Iranian being disrespectful to any south east Asian labourer or other foreign national for that matter.

From what I have witnessed and heard from others, I could write a book on domestic labourers in that sh*tehole.

As long as we support Saudi Arabia because of their oil this is not going to stop. They are the biggest financiers and suppliers of fundamentalists.

Sorry for the rant!

Iran is a freaking great country. Maybe the most underrated country in the world(press wise).

Glad to see somebody else agree with me.:)

curlzy

Oh christ what did I just read? Humans are scum, we really are, wish I was a bird or whale or something else instead.

Zebra3

ted1 wrote: »

Pretty low crime rate over there, I wouldn't knock it.

What about the fact that the Saudi royal family treats the oil wells as their own personal property to spend as they see fit?

Living sickening wealthy lifestyles with huge numbers of women while vast numbers of males live in poverty with no hope of finding a wife due to wealthier men taking more than one.

But I suppose that's all right cos the crime rate is low. :rolleyes:

It won't be long til the Saudi dictators get Ceaușescud.

J Cheever Loophole

JupiterKid wrote: »

Sri Lankans are rightly outraged by this barbaric execution.

I feel a lot of pity for this young girl and her family. However the outrage emanating from Sri Lanka somehow rings hollow for me when considered against the massacres of civilians as witnessed in Channel 4's documentary, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields.

runawaybishop

J Cheever Loophole wrote: »

I feel a lot of pity for this young girl and her family. However the outrage emanating from Sri Lanka somehow rings hollow for me when considered against the massacres of civilians as witnessed in Channel 4's documentary, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields.

So because of that they have no right to be pissed off?