THE GUARDIAN: Barack Obama video supports gay teenagers: It Gets Better Project receives backing of US president amid concerns over spate of gay American teenagers killing themselves >>> Dan Glaister in Los Angeles | Friday, October 22, 2010
Showing posts with label gay abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay abuse. Show all posts
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Britain's conviction of a Saudi prince for the murder of his servant has inspired Saudi Arabians longing for impartial justice
The prince is guilty of murder. That was the verdict rendered against the Saudi prince, Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Saud, regarding the death of his servant, Bandar Abdulaziz. It is a victory for the people of Saudi Arabia who, for the first time in their lives, can see a "blueblood" royal held accountable for his actions against a commoner.
His trial at the Old Bailey sent a strong message that a Saudi prince and a pauper are the same in the eyes of the law in Britain, and that British justice is superior to the Saudi court system, which claims to uphold Islamic standards.
Many Saudis are cheering the verdict: they know that if this murder had occurred in Saudi Arabia, the killer would not have seen a single day in prison. The victim in this case had no hopes of receiving justice in his homeland, but the British court has upheld the fundamental principle of equality under law.
Millions of people in Saudi Arabia were watching the trial closely, and the outcome gives them hope that the impartial rules of western jurisprudence may one day be emulated in their land. In Saudi Arabia and other despotic regimes, where people are divided into rulers and subjects, the judicial system is guided by the whims of the ruling family and the accused prince would have been given a free pass. This may have been on the mind of detective chief inspector John McFarlane, who summarised the situation: "This verdict clearly shows no one, regardless of their position, is above the law."
The convicted prince is a "Royal Highness" prince – one of the few hundred males eligible by birth to ascend to the Saudi throne. There are two classes of Saudi princes. Male descendents of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia, are given the title of "Royal Highness", while other princely males have to make do with a mere "Your Highness". It is worth noting that these titles are an anathema to Islam's egalitarian tradition and, in fact, have no foundation in Arab history. They were imported to Saudi Arabia from the United Kingdom in the 1940s.
Bandar Abdulaziz, the prince's victim, was a black man who grew up in a government orphanage with no known parents – the worst possible combination in Saudi Arabia in terms of social worth. In the eyes of many royals, Bandar was just a slave – and it's a view that the Saudi courts usually share. Read on and comment >>> Ali al-Ahmed | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
* "Justice even for princes." Yes, for now, perhaps. But how long will it be before a deal will be done with the royal family of Saudi Arabia to safeguard/secure a contract or two?
This comment can also be found here
Related here
MAIL ONLINE: Prince Saud faces the death penalty over his gay sex life if he ever returns to his home country and may have to apply for asylum when he is eventually released.
His lawyers failed in a last-ditch attempt to stop sordid details of his encounters with male escorts being revealed during the trial.
John Kelsey-Fry QC, defending, said Al Saud had already faced abuse from Islamic fundamentalists being held alongside him at Belmarsh prison.
The court heard that homosexuality remains a capital offence in Saudi Arabia, with the country in which the acts take place having little relevance to the prosecution, under the country's sharia law code.
Families of those accused have been known to push for the most severe penalties because of the perceived shame caused to them by homosexuality.
Saudi nationals have been granted asylum in the UK on the basis they were gay.
Mr Kelsey-Fry had unsuccessfully argued before the trial started to exclude evidence of the gay relationship from the evidence put before the jury.
In a sign of the anxiety about his sexuality becoming public, the prince's lawyers had even initially argued that this legal argument should be held behind closed doors.
He added: 'There have been difficulties in Belmarsh prison already whereby there are Islamists - Islamic fundamentalists - who have already caused difficulties with this defendant.'
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said that while the defendant might be 'anxious' about this evidence about him, he would not be returning to his home country 'for some time'.
'He knows as he has no doubt been advised that if the time arises that a return to Saudi Arabia is contemplated and there is then a real risk to him suffering, he will be entitled to apply for asylum.' [Source: Mail Online] | Daily Mail Reporter | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Minimum of twenty years in jail for sadistic, cruel gay Saudi prince >>>
THE GUARDIAN: Saudi prince jailed for life for murdering servant: Brutal death at five-star London hotel was culmination of 'sadistic' abuse for which 'no one is above the law', rules judge >>> Sam Jones and agencies | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: Life term for Saudi prince who murdered servant: A Saudi prince who used his servant as a "human punchbag" was jailed for life today for beating and strangling him to death. >>> PA | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi Arabian prince could never be seen to be homosexual in a country where it is punishable by death.
Ostensibly in a relationship with a woman, Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasir al Saud portrayed himself as an upstanding member of the House of Saud. A grandson of King Abdullah, he tended to his royal duties alongside his father, Prince Abdulaziz.
However, when released to go travelling for three months with his manservant Bandula Abdulaziz, Saud was free to embrace a more “effeminate” way of life.
Described as a combination of Nigel Havers and Omar Sharif, he made little secret of the fact he and his aide were sharing a bed in their room at the five-star Landmark hotel in London. Rarely out of each other’s sight, they routinely shopped in Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols, where on one occasion they spent just eight minutes and bought a £2,005 dress. For whom this was intended was not clear.
The language used by hotel staff to describe the prince was strikingly similar – “effeminate”, “giggling”, “very camp”. Shamsul Arafin, a waiter who delivered him room service, said: “By his gestures and postures, he seemed to be gay.” >>> Caroline Gammell | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Related here
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi prince, Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, faces a life sentence for beating and strangling his servant to death in the culmination of a campaign of "sadistic" abuse.Saud was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering Bandar Abdulaziz in a "brutal" assault at their five-star hotel suite.
The prince was fuelled by champagne and 'sex on the beach' cocktails when he bit the 32-year-old hard on both cheeks during the attack in February.
They had just returned from a Valentine's Day night out when Saud launched the ferocious assault.
When he was arrested he at first wrongly believed he had diplomatic immunity but his special status as a Saudi royal could not save him from British justice.
The 34-year-old, a member of one of the world's richest and most powerful dynasties, was found guilty of murder today by the jury after just one hour and 35 minutes of deliberation.
Saud showed no reaction as the decision was announced.
The verdict means a lengthy jail term for the prince and the end to his luxury playboy lifestyle, funded by his wealthy family, in which he dined in fine restaurants and secretly entertained gay escorts in his plush hotel room.
In court his lawyers tried to cover up evidence of his homosexuality.
If he ever returns to his home country he faces the possibility of execution - not because of the killing but because being homosexual is a capital offence there.
The murder of Mr Abdulaziz was the final act in a "deeply abusive" master-servant relationship in which the prince carried out frequent attacks on his aide "for his own personal gratification". >>> | Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Related here
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi prince accused of murdering his manservant in a sexually motivated attack insisted they were “close friends” who only shared a double bed because the sofa bed was inferior, a court heard yesterday.Prince Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir Al Saud told police he was not homosexual and that he and Bandar Abdulaziz were equals who had spent four months travelling the world.
He said the detectives did not understand the Saudi Arabian culture, where men regularly travel together as companions.
The prince’s explanation of the relationship came during his murder trial at the Old Bailey, which has heard how the Saudi royal employed gay escorts and took compromising photographs of Mr Abdulaziz on his mobile phone.
He was arrested only hours after Mr Abdulaziz’s battered body was discovered in the room they shared at the five-star Landmark Hotel in London on February 15 this year.
A post-mortem examination showed that the 32-year-old died from a combination of strangulation and neck and abdomen injuries.
When his body was discovered, Prince Saud tried to explain his wounds by saying Mr Abdulaziz was robbed on the Edgware Road, three weeks before his death, the court heard.
However, as he led detectives on a false walking tour to show them where it happened, other police officers discovered cctv footage of Prince Saud beating up Mr Abdulaziz in the hotel lift.
He was immediately arrested on suspicion of murder but refused to answer questions, instead giving the police a statement in which he explained why the pair shared a room. >>> Caroline Gammell | Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Related: Homosexual Saudi prince in ferocious attack on his manservant >>>
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A gay Saudi prince killed his servant in a murder of ''ferocity'' which had a ''sexual element'', a court heard today.Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud had previously subjected Bandar Abdulaziz to physical assaults and mistreatment, the Old Bailey was told.
The 32-year-old victim was found beaten and strangled in bed at the London hotel room he was sharing with the prince on February 15.
A series of injuries including bite marks to Mr Abdulaziz's cheeks revealed the ''ferocity of the attack to which he had been subjected'', a jury was told.
The prince at first claimed his aide had been robbed and attacked in Edgware Road three weeks before his death, the Old Bailey heard.
But CCTV footage from a lift at the Landmark hotel in Marylebone where they were staying showed the victim had been subjected to a ''really nasty assault'' by the defendant himself on January 22, said Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting.
It became clear to police that he had been killed ''in the privacy of the room he had shared with the defendant and when alone with him'', the court heard.
Further searches of CCTV footage revealed previous assaults on the victim by the defendant, Mr Laidlaw said.
The prince was arrested and detectives began trying to establish ''the true nature of the relationship'' between the men, he added.
Saud claimed they were ''friends and equals'' and that he was heterosexual, jurors were told.
But Mr Laidlaw said: ''The evidence establishes quite conclusively that he is either gay or that he has homosexual tendencies.
''It is clear that his abuse of Bandar was not confined simply to physical beatings. There is clear evidence, over and above the bite marks, that there was also a sexual element to his mistreatment of the victim.''
Mr Laidlaw said the covering up of his homosexuality might in other circumstances be explained by embarrassment or fear.
But he added: ''The defendant's concealing of the sexual aspect to his abuse of the victim was for altogether more sinister reasons and it tends to suggest that there was a sexual element to the circumstances of the killing.'' >>> | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
BBC: 'Sexual element' in Saudi prince's servant killing (+ video) >>> | Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Monday, September 14, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: It's become fashionable for politicians to say sorry – generally for events they have no control over. It's easier to demonstrate humility for a social injustice that happened more than half a century ago than to admit responsibility for handing Rover cars to a bunch of avaricious buffoons who presided over its demise, resulting in thousands of workers losing their jobs.
Belatedly, Gordon Brown has made a public apology for the "horrifying and utterly unfair" treatment of Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician and code-breaker whose work undoubtedly helped to bring the Second World War to a swifter conclusion, and who made an important contribution to the development of computers.
Turing was gay, and after being convicted of gross indecency in 1952 he was offered chemical castration or a prison sentence. He submitted to the highly controversial medical procedure; however, his criminal record ensured he lost his security clearance and his job. He committed suicide two years later.
There's been a long campaign to clear Turing's name – more than 30,000 people signed a petition – so it's not as if the Prime Minister woke up one day and decided that this repulsive episode in the history of gay-bashing should be publicly atoned for half a century later. In 1999, Time magazine included Turing in its 100 most important people of the 20th century and some campaigners want him to be posthumously knighted.
I'm glad that Brown felt bad about what happened to Turing, but I wonder whether he spends any time considering the ongoing harassment of homosexuals in one of our former colonies, a country millions of Britons visit and one with very close ties to a large number of British citizens. I'm talking about Jamaica, where last week John Terry, a British diplomat, who was made a MBE for services to tourism, was found murdered at home in Montego Bay. A note attached to his body reportedly called him a "batty man", slang for homosexual.
Whether this particular murder was homophobically inspired or not, the context is not encouraging. The attitude of most Jamaicans towards gay men and women is prehistoric – in a survey last year, 70 per cent questioned said they didn't think homosexuals should be entitled to the same rights as other citizens; only 26 per cent disagreed with that. In a recent poll of Jamaicans, 96 per cent were against legalising sex between consenting males. The Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, has gone on record saying he would never allow gays in his cabinet. Popular musicians including Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Shabba Ranks, Elephant Man and Beenie Man have all had hits with lyrics that call for gays to be attacked and killed.
In 2006, Time called Jamaica "the most homophobic place on earth". Prominent gay activists have been murdered and homophobic attacks are routine. Homosexuality itself is not illegal, but sodomy is. Organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have long complained about the treatment of gays in Jamaica, to no avail. >>> Janet Street-Porter | Sunday, September 13, 2009
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