Top US Academic: 'Let Me Be Lashed Instead Of Saudi Blogger'

Academics who have volunteered to take the lashes for Raif
Badawi, clockwise from top left: Richard P George, Hannah
Rosenthal, Mary Ann Glendon and Zuhdi Jasser

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Princeton professor Robert P George offers to take punishment issued to Raif Badawi, the Saudi liberal sentenced to 1,000 lashes

A group of top American intellectuals have volunteered to "take" the 1,000 lash sentence imposed by the Saudi government on a prominent liberal blogger.

In a remarkable intervention on behalf of Raif Badawi, who received the sentence for insulting his country's hardline Islamic clerics, seven US academics have agreed to take the flogging for him.

The move, which follows widespread international outrage at the sentence, is being led by Robert P George, a leading professor at Princeton University and vice-chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

In an email to The Christian Post newspaper, Professor George said: "Together with six colleagues on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, I sent a letter to the Saudi Ambassador to the US calling on the Saudi government to stop the horrific torture of Raif Badawi — an advocate of religious freedom and freedom of expression in the Saudi Kingdom."

"If the Saudi government refuses, we each asked to take 100 of Mr. Badawi's lashes so that we could suffer with him. The seven of us include Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, Christians, Jews, and a Muslim." » | Colin Freeman, Chief foreign correspondent | Thursday, January 22, 2015

Who, What, Why: What Can You Be Flogged For In Iran?

Leila Hatami

BBC: A campaign has begun in Iran to get an actress flogged after she was seen being kissed at the Cannes Festival. Flogging is common in Iran - but what offences in Iranian law are punished with the lash, asks Tom de Castella.

It was a normal French greeting. The actress Leila Hatami - best known for starring in the Oscar-winning film, A Separation - received a kiss on the cheek from festival president Gilles Jacob. But she has come under attack from religious hardliners for accepting the greeting rather than ducking away.

Radical students have condemned her "sinful act of kissing a strange man in public" and demanded she be flogged under article 638 of the criminal code, which deals with public morality.

Adultery, kissing in public, theft, homosexual acts, drinking or selling alcohol, and blasphemy are all grounds for flogging in Iran. Offenders are usually sentenced to between 10 and 100 lashes across the back, carried out with a one-metre (three-foot) whip. The pain is so severe that they often faint after seven or eight strokes, says Anicee Van Engeland, a specialist in Iranian law at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. » | Who, What, Why | BBC News | Friday, May 23, 2014

The True Horrific Face of Islam: Woman Flogged in Public in Sudan

THE TIMES: Sudan protesters arrested after video shows woman flogged by police >>> Tristan McConnell, Nairobi | Tuesday, December 14, 2010 (£)

In the Name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful
MAIL ONLINE: A 13-year-old girl has been sentenced to 90 lashes and two months' prison in Saudi Arabia after she took a mobile phone to school.

A court ordered the girl to be flogged in front of her classmates following an assault on the school principal, according to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan.

After the assault she was discovered to have concealed a mobile phone, breaking strict Saudi regulations banning the use of camera-equipped phones in girls' schools.

Al-Watan said a court in the northeastern Gulf port of Jubail had sentenced the girl to 90 lashes inside her school, followed by two months' detention.

The punishment is harsher than tha dished out to some robbers and looters. Saudi girl, 13, sentenced to 90 lashes after she took a mobile phone to school >>> Mike Theodoulou | Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Lubna Hussein: 'I'm Not Afraid of Being Flogged. It Doesn't Hurt. But It Is Insulting'
THE OBSERVER: Lubna Hussein could receive 40 lashes if found guilty on Tuesday of being indecently dressed - by wearing trousers. In her first major interview, she tells James Copnall in Khartoum why she is determined to fight on, whatever danger she faces

Sitting in the restaurant where her ordeal began, Lubna Hussein looks at the offending item of clothing that caused all the trouble and laughs softly. "In Sudan, women who wear trousers must be flogged!" she says, her eyes widening at the thought. The former journalist faces up to 40 lashes and an unlimited fine if she is convicted of breaching Article 152 of Sudanese criminal law, which prohibits dressing indecently in public.

What exactly constitutes "indecent" is not clear. Last month Lubna was among a crowd listening to an Egyptian singer in a restaurant in a swish area of Khartoum when policemen surged in. They ordered Lubna and other women to stand up to check what they were wearing, and arrested all those who had trousers on. Lubna, who was wearing loose green slacks and a floral headscarf, was taken to the police station.

"There were 13 of us, and the only thing we had in common was that we were wearing trousers," Lubna says. "Ten of the 13 women said they were guilty, and they got 10 lashes and a fine of 250 Sudanese pounds (about £65). One girl was only 13 or 14. She was so scared she urinated on herself."

Lubna asked for a lawyer, so her case was delayed. Despite the risks, she is determined that her trial should go ahead. Before her initial hearing last Wednesday, she had 500 invitation cards printed, and sent out emails with the subject line: "Sudanese journalist Lubna invites you again to her flogging tomorrow."

The court was flooded with women's rights activists, politicians, diplomats and journalists, as well as well-wishers. During the hearing, Lubna announced that she would resign from her job as a public information officer with the United Nations, which would have provided her with immunity, to fight the case. The judge agreed, and adjourned the trial until Tuesday.

Lubna says she has no fear of the punishment she might face. "Afraid of what? No, I am not afraid, really," she insists. "I think that flogging does not hurt, but it is an insult. Not for me, but for women, for human beings, and also for the government of Sudan. How can you tell the world that the government flogs the people? How can you do that?"

She is determined to face prosecution in order to change the law. "It is not for me. It is my chance to defend the women of Sudan. Women are often arrested and flogged because of what they wear. This has been happening for 20 years. Afterwards some of them don't continue at high school or university, sometimes they don't return to their family, and sometimes if the girls have a future husband, perhaps the relationship comes to an end." >>> James Copnall | Sunday, August 02, 2009

Woman in Sudan Faces Flogging for Wearing Trousers
THE TELEGRAPH: A Sudanese woman journalist is preparing to be flogged 40 times in Khartoum for wearing trousers, with 10 women already whipped for similar offences against Islamic law.

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein. Photo: The Telegraph
Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who writes for the left-wing Al-Sahafa newspaper and works for the media department of the United Nations Mission in Sudan, was arrested in Khartoum earlier this month after being caught wearing "indecent" clothes.

"I received a telephone call from the authorities saying I must appear at 10 am (7am GMT) on Wednesday in front of the judge," Hussein said.

"It is important that people know what is happening," Hussein said in an invitation to journalists to attend her court appearance and flogging.

"They will lash me 40 times, and also fine me 250 Sudanese pounds (100 dollars)."

Hussein said she was at a restaurant on July 3 when police came in and ordered 13 women wearing trousers to follow them to the police station. >>> | Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Related:
Sudan Women ‘Lashed for Trousers’ >>> BBC | July 13, 2009

Pakistani Court to Hear Public Flogging Case
ABC News (Australia): The chief justice of Pakistan has intervened over a video in circulation showing the public flogging of a teenage girl in the north-western Swat Valley area.

Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has called a court hearing on the matter next week.

He has ordered top government officials from North West Frontier Province to appear in person and produce the girl, who is shown in the video being held down by two men while a third hits her with a strap while she cries out in pain.

A human rights activist, Tahira Abdullah, described the flogging as a defamation of Islam.

"I am sickened to the core. I feel nauseous," she said. >>> | Saturday, April 4, 2009

Video: Radicals Beat Girl, 17, in Islamic Stronghold of Swat, Pakistan
TIMESONLINE: This grainy footage appears to show a 17-year-old girl being beaten by Islamic radicals in Pakistan’s northwestern region of Swat, where Sharia law was introduced after the government reached a truce with the Taleban in February.

A local Taleban commander in the militant stronghold of Matta, 25 miles from the regional capital, Mingora, ordered the girl to be flogged a week ago after accusing her of adultery, according to local reporters.

But some residents of Matta have accused the commander of ordering the beating to get revenge after the girl refused to accept his proposal of marriage, the reporters told The Times.

“Please! Enough! Enough!” the girl is heard crying in Pashtu, the language of the tribes who dominate northwestern Pakistan – now the main hub of Taleban and al-Qaeda activity.

At another point, she cries: “I am repenting, my father is repenting what I have done, my grandmother is repenting what I have done...”

The man flogging her is also heard abusing his colleague as he struggles to hold her down and stop her covering her backside with her hands.

“You should hold her tightly so she doesn’t move,” he is heard saying. >>> Jeremy Page, Delhi | Thursday, April 2, 2009

Elderly Saudi [Syrian? – see below] Woman Sentenced to Lashings
UPI: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- A 75-year-old Saudi Arabian woman has been sentenced to receive 40 lashes for hosting two unrelated men in her house, local media reported.

The Saudi daily newspaper al-Watan said the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, has appealed her sentence after being charged with offenses against Islam by the religious police, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, CNN reported Monday.

Sawadi says the two men in her house were a man she considers her son because she breast-fed him as a baby and a friend who was escorting him as he delivered bread to the elderly woman.

"It's made everybody angry because this is like a grandmother," Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Huwaider told CNN. "Forty lashes -- how can she handle that pain? You cannot justify it."

The U.S. broadcaster reported that Saudi religious police last week also detained two male novelists for questioning after they approached a female writer, Halima Muzfar, for an autograph at a book fair in Riyadh. [Source: UPI] Monday, March 9, 2009

CNN: Saudis Order 40 Lashes for Elderly Woman for Mingling

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, "Fahd" and "Hadian."

Fahd told the policeman that he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism and punishes unrelated men and women who are caught mingling.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is made up of several thousand religious policemen charged with duties such as enforcing dress codes, prayer times and segregation of the sexes. Under Saudi law, women face many restrictions, including a strict dress code and a ban on driving. Women also need to have a man's permission to travel.

Al Watan obtained the court's verdict and reported that it was partly based on the testimony of the religious police. In his ruling, the judge said it had been proved that Fahd is not the Sawadi's son through breastfeeding.

The court also doled out punishment to the two men. Fahd was sentenced to four months in prison and 40 lashes; Hadian was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes. In a phone call with Al Watan, the judge declined to comment and suggested the newspaper review the case with the Ministry of Justice.

Sawadi told the newspaper that she will appeal, adding that Fahd is indeed her son through breastfeeding.

The case has sparked anger in Saudi Arabia. >>> By Mohammed Jamjoom and Saad Abedine | Monday, March 9, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Saudi Court Sentences Widow, 75, to Lashes for 'Mingling with Men'

A 75-year-old widow has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison in Saudi Arabia for mingling with two young men who were reportedly bringing her bread.

The sentence has sparked new criticism of Saudi Arabia's ultraconservative religious police and judiciary.

Khamisa Sawadi, a Syrian-born woman who was married to a Saudi, was convicted and sentenced last week for meeting with men who were not her immediate relatives. Saudi law prohibits men and women who are not immediate relatives from mingling.

The two men, including one who was Mrs Sawadi's late husband's nephew, were also found guilty and sentenced to prison terms and lashes.

The elderly woman met the two 24-year-old men last April after she asked them to bring her five loaves of bread, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported.

The men - identified by Al-Watan as the nephew, Fahd al-Anzi, and his friend and business partner Hadiyan bin Zein - went to Mrs Sawadi's home in the city of al-Chamil, north of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. After delivering the bread, the two men were arrested by a one of the religious police, Al-Watan reported.

The court said it based its March 3 ruling on "citizen information" and testimony from Mr Anzi's father, who accused Mrs Sawadi of corruption.

"Because she said she doesn't have a husband and because she is not a Saudi, conviction of the defendants of illegal mingling has been confirmed," the court verdict read. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff and Agencies, Riyadh | Tuesday, March 10, 2009

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If Britain Will Stand for This Nonsense, Then It Deserves All It Gets! Countries Used to Go to War for Less Than This! A Country Must Protect Its Citizens!
THE TELEGRAPH: The British schoolteacher who allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed has been charged in Sudan with insulting religion and inciting hatred.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, was also charged with showing contempt for religious beliefs.

"Khartoum north prosecution unit has completed its investigation and has charged the Briton Gillian (Gibbons) under Article 125 of the criminal code," the Sudanese news agency SUNA said, quoting a senior justice ministry official. 



The Foreign Office confirmed the charges in the case which is now set to go before the court on Thursday. Teddy bear row teacher charged in Sudan >>> By Katie Franklin, Caroline Gammell and Blake Evans-Pritchard

YAHOO NEWS (UK & IRELAND):
Teddy Row Teacher Charged in Sudan

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Teddy Row Teacher Charged

Mark Alexander

And We Call These Barbarians Our ‘Friends and Allies’!
Photo of a typical Saudi flogging courtesy of the Daily Mail
DAILY MAIL: International outrage grew today as Saudi Arabia defended the sentencing of a teenage gang-rape victim to six months' jail and 200 lashes.

The Shia Muslim woman had initially been sentenced to 90 lashes after being convicted of violating Saudi Arabia's rigid Sharia Islamic law on segregation of the sexes.

The Saudi general court also doubled prison sentences for the seven men convicted of raping the 19-year-old.
US Democratic party presidential contender Hillary Clinton was outraged at the Saudi court decision.

"I urge President Bush to call on King Abdullah to cancel the ruling and drop all charges against this woman," she said.
"As president I will once again make human rights an American priority around the world."

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to directly criticise the Saudi judiciary, but said: "I think that most people would find this relatively astonishing that something like this happened." Outrage as Saudi rape VICTIM is given 200 lashes and six months jail (more)

Mark Alexander