Posted on 11/04/2007 11:33:52 PM PST by PRePublic
Saudi executes Egyptian for practising "witchcraft" Fri 2 Nov 2007, 19:44 GMT
RIYADH, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia executed on Friday an Egyptian man convicted of "sorcery", desecrating the Muslim holy book and adultery, the official news agency said.
The Saudi Press Agency said Mustafa Ibrahim was put to death in Riyadh in a controversial case which has drawn criticism from rights activists.
It said Ibrahim had been accused by another foreign resident of practicing magic in order to separate him from his wife and said evidence had been found in his home, including books on black magic, a candle with an incantation "to summon devils" and "foul-smelling herbs".
"He confessed to adultery with a woman and desecrating the Koran by placing it in the bathroom," the agency said.
Saudi media first reported the case in April, saying mosque worshippers had complained that a pharmacist in the northern desert town of Arar had placed copies of the Koran in washrooms. No accusation of adultery was mentioned at the time.
Clerics of Saudi Arabia's austere form of Islam, known as Wahhabism, take accusations of sorcery seriously and recently held a conference in Riyadh on how to combat it. Clerics dominate the legal system, acting as judges.
"This is a sad day for justice in Saudi Arabia. This execution is a clear indicator of the medieval character of the Saudi judicial system," said Ali al-Ahmed, a Washington-based rights activist of Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite Muslim minority.
"This man was murdered in cold blood while the Saudi king is in Europe being touted as a reformer ... This man was sentenced to death without any explicit evidence to prove what was perceived as violation of the law," he told Reuters.
Executions are usually carried out by public beheading with a sword for murder, rape, drug smuggling and armed robbery.
Saudi authorities say they apply strict Islamic law which ensures full rights for Muslims and non-Muslims. Families of victims have the right to waive the death sentence and claim financial compensation instead.
But in an apparent acknowledgement of problems, King Abdullah last month announced a reform of the court system which the state-run government Human Rights Commission said will include putting the penal code in writing.
Friday's execution takes the total number of executions this year to well over 120, compared with a record of 192 recorded by Reuters for all of 1995.
Hands Off Cain (www.handsoffcain.info), a Rome-based anti-death penalty group, said there were 119 executions in the first six months of 2007. Only around 38 people were executed in 2006.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL02434180.html
Anything modern or futuristic is witchcraft to Muslims.
No doubt they use modern days devices but introduce them to the proper use...forget it
Give a Muslim a cellphone will he chat while driving?
Put a Muslim in charge of a fertilizer plant will he grow a garden?
Make him a pilot will he aspire to fly to the stars other than blowing up a building?
Put a Muslim in charge of organizing Miss Universe pageants?
A hog farm?
A battered womens help center?
A dog pound?
There is no future in our world with Islam, no way.
Hard to argue with logic like that, of course executing him was the only thing to do.
Sure am glad I'm paying over $3 bucks a gallon to these retarded towel heads.
Just keep saying it, DUmmies, Dems and MSM:
"Islamofascism is just an invention of the Bush Administration."
Well, I feel safer.../barf
Probably go caught reading Harry Potter. Off with his head!
I think you are on to something. You would hav e to have lower IQ’s to keep a people down, wouldn’t you???
Sounds like Mohammad failed to attract them to One God.
Damn that Harry Potter!
When you’re elected Arch Druid, better stay away from the Middle East.
Are the Saudis sure it was foul-smelling herbs? I mean, how foul would they have to be to even be detected in Saudi Arabia? The whole Moslem world must be practicing witchcraft...
It is.
Good point.
this is like pulling an article out of 17th century european history, certainly not a good place to be a witch these days.
What a backwards country...witchcraft and adultery are evil of course, but instead of executing the person, why not give him a chance to repent and change his ways? In the Catholic Church, if you commit a sin like that you can confess it and be forgiven. In the Islamic world, if you do it, your head comes off.
Thanks
“In the Catholic Church, if you commit a sin like that you can confess it and be forgiven”
These days this is true. In many ways the religious strife in the muslim world reminds me of 15-16th century europe.
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