Security Bullet In
Communiques from the security front, sir
Friday 4 January 2008, 5:35 PM
Saudis admit to locking up blogger
Well known for criticising the Saudi regime, al-Farhan has been locked up since December 10. He is "being questioned about specific violations of nonsecurity laws," according to Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
According to an Amnesty International report on Saudi Arabia, in 2007, "peaceful critics of the government were subjected to prolonged detention without charge or trial. There were allegations of torture, and floggings continued to be imposed by the courts. Violence against women was prevalent and migrant workers suffered discrimination and abuse."
At least 39 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2007, using a sword, according to Amnesty International.
Yet our royal family, and government, fete the Saudis. According to the
PreviousComments on this post
Whilst recognising and condemning the Saudi's human rights' violations, It usually helps to write balanced articles that don't insinuate ridiculous things...
How can you follow up "violence against women......discrimination and abuse", with "..39 people were executed..."
One is a matter of social responsibility and the other pertains to the saudi judicial system, which incidentally is not the only system implementing capital punishment.
Yes I absolutely agree with you regarding corruption in all governments, including our own. but didnt you know.. money makes the world go around....
I just have to laugh at the irony of it all.
censoring me in a post about human rights and saudi censorship.
This hypocrisy is not new to me, I just wonder if you can see it.
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My goodness, i can't imagine how they execute people by sword, thats barbaric. In any other situation our government and others would apply pressure, but it seems we need saudi oil!
Many thanks for the above comments.
While I agree with you teh_leet, that it's not intellectually rigorous to confound different systems -- e.g. locking people up without charge, and a judicial system which deals with people once they have been charged, I personally believe that any judicial system that can take a human's life infringes on their rights, i.e., their right to life. You are more than welcome to disagree.
Harpless, many thanks for your comments on this and in other threads. I rather think that the government does believe we need to court oil, and oil money.
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