The punishment lasted half an hour: one lash every twelve seconds. John White was not the only person who had died after a flogging but this was the occasion on which the explanation for a dynamic relationship between superficial marks and injuries left on the body and internal organs of the punished was used as a political argument against corporal punishment. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. A regimental farrier kept on flogging until the fiftieth; he then handed over to his colleague so that he could have a rest. He is being held up (somewhat incompetently) against the back of a police van and punished with what is either a somewhat rigid whip or an extremely flexible long cane. According to unconfirmed reports those condemned to die this way are given tranquilisers, before being taken to a public square after midday prayers. It seems not to occur to any of the writers that, since the whole Saudi set-up, including the judicial system, is ruthlessly corrupt from top to bottom, convictions of innocent people are even more likely than in Britain. Hamid was a founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) and was sentenced to 11 years in jail in March 2013, campaigners said. The children know about it, too. Again the tears came. Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison. Men are buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts, with the stones used deliberately small enough to not kill the condemned in just a couple of strikes. HRANA News Agency - A prisoner identified as "A-B" was executed on charge of murder in public on the boulevard of Goharbaran in the Surak city, of Mazandaran Province, on 4 th January, and the following video report shows this execution.. HRANA News Agency again invites citizens to get involved in reporting and improving the human rights situation in Iran, by sending observations, photos . CNN's Becky Anderson reports. For almost a week we heard nothing more about Raif. In the future, judges will have to choose between fines and/or jail sentences, or non-custodial alternatives like community service, the court said in a statement seen by AFP on Saturday. US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2003 The most high-profile instance of flogging in recent years was the case of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in 2014 for "insulting" Islam. The New Statesmans weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. Ensaf Haidar believes a YouTube video shows her husband receiving a public flogging for "insulting Islam." How are you and the children? he asked. States that at least 27 individuals were sentenced to flogging in 1996. Charges: Violating Islamic values and propagating liberal thought. It also appeared immediately on YouTube when you searched for Raif Badawi and lashes. Various references to flogging, including a 1996 case in which two secondary school students were whipped for assault in front of their fellow-pupils and teachers. The post mortem examination of the soldiers corpse, extensively reported by the Victorian press, provoked a burning political and medical debate on the effects of flogging on the health of a human being. The article also claims that there is unhappiness in the country about inconsistent sentencing, suggests that there are too many flogging sentences, and calls on the government to codify the laws. Did he get medical treatment for his wounds? How was Raif now, I wondered. Tomorrow theyre going to start enforcing my sentence. I had spoken to him from prison several times before but will never forget that call as long as I live. His voice was weak, but he was trying to make it sound firm. 1,000 lashes and a fine of 5,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (approx US$1,000). Raif Badawi has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for promoting public debate on his website, Women can be stoned to death for committing adultery in Saudi Arabia, Stay up to date with our daily newsletter, criticised by groups such as Amnesty International. The jurys verdict, given on 4 August 1846, was that Frederick John White died from the mortal effects of the flogging that he had received at Cavalry Barracks in Hounslow. Saudi Blogger Lashed 50 Times For Insulting Islam (Video) 73,864 views Jan 14, 2015 Video has appeared on YouTube that seems to show Saudi rights activist Raif Badawi receiving his first 50. If only I could have done something for him! Well, in Saudi Arabia, the punishment for fornication, however, is 100 lashes. By now some of my Facebook friends were referring to it. In 19th century Britain, the case of a young soldier who died after a similar assault provoked a national outcry. Propaganda page by the Saudi government. Rights group Prisoners of Conscience claimed the human rights activist died because his health was neglected after doctors recommended he be taken for heart surgery. RT now to #FreeRaif! Copyright 2023 IBTimes UK. She wanted me to come in. Everythings great, but the prison warders are very bad people. Robert did his best to explain what had happened. Public beheading, crucifixion and paralysis are all part of its ruthless and medieval justice system, which has seen record numbers executed. But as a Victorian pamphlet recited: performers and skin materially differ, accidents sometimes happen. I felt the pain they were inflicting on Raif as if it was my own. But the children behaved as if they hadnt heard their words at all. The most high-profile flogging in recent years was of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes on charges of insulting Islam. The next day, I spoke to Raif. They, they I couldnt go on because with every word I wanted to say I immediately felt the tears welling up. They stared at him. Its here that we receive journalists and stay in contact with activists all over the world who are standing by us. The Saudi supreme court said the latest reform was intended to "bring the kingdom into line with international human rights norms against corporal punishment". Another Amnesty International report (1998). Raifs head was bowed. But when I told them they werent to go to school that day, but spend the day with my friends Sylvie and Jane and Janes dogs, they were very excited. Raif, I said, the whole world is talking about your fate. I took a deep breath. Children talk to each other. Crime and punishment in Saudi Arabia: Lashing, imprisonment, and other unusual punishments About one-half of all rulings examined in the current study were presided over by a lone judge. Less than a week after the end of the inquest, the Duke of Wellington established a limit of fifty lashes to be given for military corporal punishment. Local courts routinely order floggings, often of hundreds of lashes -- or even thousands, inflicted in instalments. The wounds heal slowly. Are you receiving medical treatment? Yes, a doctor examined me. This was not because he thought that this number could be established but only to show the jury and the reporters that the number could not be quantified. Saudi officials hailed the move to abolish flogging, which was confirmed by the kingdoms state-run human rights commission on Saturday, as another bold reform by Prince Mohammed. He didnt level any accusations at me. Tempering his enthusiasm, he said, were what he called the many other aspects of the kingdoms justice system that remain problematic, including the ability to hold people for months without charge, execution by beheading and the lack of a unified penal code. (UPDATE: but see video clip below.). In April, a Yemeni blogger living in Saudi Arabia was arrested for advocating for equality for LGBT people. Tennessee becomes first state to outlaw drag shows on public grounds, near schools. 1.6k. I hurried over. While he remains in prison, he has been embraced by some in the West as symbol of the kingdoms intolerance of freedom of thought and expression. Last month two gay men in the Saudi city of Al-Bahah were convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 7,000 lashes each. UN Human Rights Commission: 1997: Thematic Reports Can you talk? It was the principal of the school. For another video clip, showing a quite different kind of Saudi JCP or prison CP (falaka - whipping of the feet), see this separate page. The video was purportedly taken inside Briman prison in Jeddah, where . In very quick succession he took the blows all over the back of his body: he was lashed from shoulders to calves, while the men around him clapped and uttered pious phrases. Saudi Arabian blogger and activist, Raif Badawi, is due to face his second round of 50 lashes on Friday (16 January) after being accused ofinsulting Islam. Now, as part of his effort to reshape how the kingdom is run, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has done away with flogging as punishment, and perhaps dampened the international condemnation that came with it. Saudi Arabia Abolishes Flogging as a Punishment for Crime The most high-profile flogging in recent years was of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and. They already guessed that my serious face didnt bode well. The decision to replace flogging as a punishment with jail time and fines was made sometime this month and announced internally by the kingdoms top court, Reuters reported. No one in our house ever talked about the subject again. The New Statesmans global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. 1.8k. This happens "sometimes". Cites a Human Rights Watch claim that "judges routinely issued sentences of thousands of lashes as punishment, often carried out in public". On 7 January 2015, two masked men stormed the editorial offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris and shot 11 journalists. A post shared by News Stand (@smartandstuck) on Jul 29, 2020 at 2:53am PDT, A post shared by Ghpage TV (@ghpage_tv) on Jul 29, 2020 at 8:14am PDT, Your email address will not be published. Saudi Arabia: Gang rape victim sentenced to 200 lashes, rapists get away with light punishment New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a court in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia sentenced 200 lashes and a . Since then our little flat in Sherbrooke has turned into a campaign office for Raifs liberation. The inquest into the Hounslow case sparked a national outcry. According to reports, the lady who is assumed to be in her late twenties was caught seriously been chopped by a Sudanese who lives in the same house with her. Report of the Special Rapporteur In 2014, a former colleague of Badawi, Su'ad al-Shammari, was charged with "insulting the messenger and the hadith" on Twitter. Im afraid so, Ensaf, Raif said. The colonel and the regiments doctor stood with their arms folded. Thanks for coming, she said to me. Someone filmed Raifs lashes on their phone.. The principal had already assembled a council of teachers, a social worker and the school psychologist. Sentenced to 40 lashes for wearing a miniskirt in the privacy of a friend's home in Iran, Tala Raassi describes the punishment that changed her life. It can be seen clearly that the official administering this whipping does not have a book under his arm (see commentary above). This comes less than a month after the kingdom executed another prince for murder. Cites press reports that Saudi flogging (which the USSD seems to think is something different from caning) is administered with a "thin reed" by a man holding a book under his arm. The farriers used the cat o nine tails, a tool made up of nine knotted thongs of cotton that could be found in veterinary shops. He offered to come home with me and jump in when I couldnt cope any more. Raif Badawi, 33, was . It is evident that practice in Saudi Arabia is far from uniform. But as we were sitting together in the kitchen over cornflakes and maple syrup my phone rang. Saudi govt condemns #CharlieHebdo attack as "cowardly" but flogs activist blogger @Raif_Badawi next day. Robert leapt in and picked up the thread of the conversation for me. But worst of all was the feeling of helplessness. Have they done it? I asked her. Its indescribable, watching something like that being done to the person you love. Did you encounter any technical issues? Criticism of Saudi Arabia's human rights record has grown since King Salman named his son Mohammed crown prince and heir to the throne in June 2017. I surely hope he intends to go after the whole justice system, because it is very flawed in both regulations and implementation, Mr. Coogle said of Prince Mohammed. Are you in great pain? Its all fine. However, no news reports to that effect have come to hand. A reader of the Times wrote to the editor that had the regimental doctor put his fingers on Whites wrist he would have found that at each lash his pulse faltered. A Warner Bros. Saudi blogger receives first 50 of 1,000 lashes. Men 'Behaving Like Women' Face Flogging Travelers show off decked out RV and tours the world full time. The children eagerly join in. Ensaf Haidar fled to Canada from Saudi Arabia in 2014 after her husband Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger, was arrested and subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for allegedly insulting Islam through electronic channels. They are then forced to kneel facing Mecca, over a blue plastic sheet, before the executioner severs the head with a sword in one stroke. Badawai was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and ordered to pay one million Saudi riyals (157,220) for setting up the Saudi Arabian Free Liberals Forum. Its all my fault, he said. Ohio band member and family killed in murder-suicide, police say, Police: Mayor of College Park, Maryland, arrested for child pornography, 5 Best Destinations for a Family Safari in Africa, Trade in Your Fitbit: A Smart and Sustainable Way to Upgrade Your Tech, The Reason Why Banks and Other Businesses Require so Many Details. Reprinted by permission of Other Press. April 2005 release from Human Rights Watch gives a bit more information about the case of 35 men sentenced to jail and lashes for "deviant sexual behaviour" at an alleged gay party. Badawai was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and ordered to pay one million Saudi riyals (157,220) for setting up the Saudi Arabian Free Liberals Forum. His punishment began. Dermatologist Erasmus Wilson was called by Wakley to perform a third autopsy on the body of White. It was as if I was being operated by remote control. Saudi Arabia Abolishes Flogging as a Punishment for Crime, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-abolishes-flogging.html. (Image credit: Melissa Golden) By Michele . It was too much for me. Oh, great! said Dodi, who is very fond of the creatures. Caught on camera 16 videos. Earlier this month, human rights organisation Reprieve reported that Saudi Arabiahad carried out the800th execution inKing Salman's five years of rule. Hes fine, I lied. All Rights Reserved. As one would expect when there are so many of them, the strokes are not particularly hard. November 1997: Behind Closed Doors: Unfair Trials In Saudi Arabia Committing adultery can lead to death by stoning. One of the prison warders told me. It took me a moment to understand what he was telling me. One will surely land himself into hot waters for being under the influence of alcohol on the plane en route to Saudi Arabia. The kingdoms most famous flogging case was that of Raif Badawi, who ran a website that published material criticizing Saudi religious figures, lauding Western legal systems and arguing that atheists should be free to state their views without being punished. All Rights Reserved. International pressure is crucial, I believe if we keep up the support it will eventually pay off. The same information is repeated in the 2002 USSD report. Excerpted from Raif Badawi, The Voice of Freedom: My Husband, Our Story. Im tough, he said, apparently quite cheerful. After performing an autopsy within Hounslow Barracks, the medical army officers declared that his death was in no way connected with the flogging he had received almost a whole month earlier. My husband was the second item, immediately after the events in France. Amnesty document (March 2000) in which two people, one male and one female, describe the experience of receiving a court-ordered flogging in Saudi Arabia. I simply couldnt imagine the authorities going ahead with it. In earlier years' editions it was "frequently". How are they? Theyre strong, I lied, and full of fight. Did you expect anything else? Public floggings have grown rare in recent years, either because the punishment was being administered in prisons or not at all. Hundreds of lashes could previously. In 2003, a court sentenced Indian migrant worker Puthan Veettil 'Abd ul-Latif Noushad to be punished by having his right eye gouged out in retribution for his role in a brawl in which a Saudi citizen was injured. These were divided into instalments: when the skin had started to heal it was time to whip again. today front of Saudi embassy in Paris for #RaifBadawi pic.twitter.com/ISc0l6ahiu, - Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme, IBT UK Morning Brief - Let the best of International News come to you. Badawai will continue to be flogged for the next 19 weeks unless a prison doctor finds him in poor health to continue. The violence of the blows almost made me suspect as much. Well say: Wed like you to meet them quite normally. UN Committee Against Torture, 10 May 2002 by Ensaf Haidar & Andrea C. Hoffmann, published by Other Press on 17 May 2016. "Flogging and other forms of corporal judicial punishment violate the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. Video: Women 'thieves' receive 30 lashes each on the orders of a sharia judge. Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 lashes in Saudi Arabia, prompting protests around the world One woman flogged for doing just that described on the Iranian Facebook page My Stealthy. In 19th century Britain, the case of a young soldier who died after a similar assault provoked a national outcry. Thats impossible, I struggled to say. The Flogging of liberal blogger Raif Badawi has placed a spotlight on Saudi Arabia's justice system Lashes for liberalism, prison for female driving, death for dissent are among recent. Soon it will be all over the net. Theres also supposed to be a video, she warned me. 2023 Cable News Network. Youre not going to weep in front of the children? How are you? I sniffed. Well, in Saudi Arabia, the punishment for fornication, however, is 100 lashes. If (as seems probable) the nurses did not actually do the crime, the question of punishment is irrelevant. UK prime minister David Cameron personally urged Saudi authorities not to administer the 350 lashings that 74-year-old oil executive Karl Andree was sentenced to for being caught with bootleg wine in his car. The HRW spokesperson adds that the accused is "shackled" during the punishment, and is "sometimes" permitted to wear a single layer of clothing; I had had the impression that that was always so. In the past, they were often carried out in public, adding a social stigma to the physical pain inflicted. The caning, if so it can be described, is targeted very approximately at the culprit's buttocks, but its administration is so hasty and slapdash that some of the strokes appear to fall on the small of his back. Saudi Arabia is one of the worlds few absolute monarchies and administers justice based on Shariah law. Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, holds a picture of her husband in the European parliament in Strasbourg, France. **Note: The sentence durations listed are according to the Hijri (Islamic Lunar) Calendar used by Saudi . He gave me a note saying that Im not yet fit enough to be whipped again. Thank God, I said. Raif Badawi's family have warned he could die if the 1,000 lashes are carried out. The children took that time: they fell ill. All three complained of stomach pains and nausea. Floggings tended to be done with a wooden cane, the swift blows going up and down the backside of the sentenced person. Even in the playground I noticed the other children looking at me and whispering. Youre doing what you can. Saudi Justice Through British Eyes The punishment roused outrage and condemnation from around the world, including from many of Saudi Arabia's allies. Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters. This difference in approach is supposed to reflect the idea that Saudi floggings are intended primarily as symbolic humiliation rather than intensely painful retribution, and is in line with a rule in the Koran that the operator is required to keep a copy of the holy book under his arm, so that he will not swing the whip from the shoulder but only from the elbow. Saudi blogger receives first 50 of 1,000 lashes. appreciated. He was awarded the European parliament's Sakharov human rights prize the following year. 1994: Unwelcome "guests": The plight of Iraqi refugees Amnesty International Report 1999 The men I had seen in the video might as well have put me in a square and flogged me. Badawai is not the only Saudi activist to have faced punishment over exercising his right to freedom of speech. The second round has so far been postponed on health grounds. Your email address will not be published. Mentions that hundreds of political demonstrators were sentenced to flogging, but it was not known whether these sentences had been carried out. June 2001 article in The Guardian (London), largely recycling information from Amnesty reports, including a first-person account of being flogged. As one of the witnesses told the coroner during the inquiry, blood had appeared between Whites shoulders after twenty lashes had been given. After the first 50 lashes and the international public outcry that followed the men with the whips in Riyadh did not at first dare to repeat the punishment. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Flogging sentences are normally combined with imprisonment. The US Department of State report found that, although the death penalty is a possibility for same-sex sexual activity, prosecutors did not seek to impose this punishment during the year.. But now hes better again. My children reacted very strangely to this new revelation. Ensaf Haidar believes a YouTube video shows her husband receiving a public flogging for "insulting Islam." Once I got home, I called the children together in the sitting room again. HRW has sometimes been prone to exaggeration in the past, but if this is true, I should think it must make Saudi Arabia pretty well unique in the world. Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years of imprisonment on blogger Raif Badawi, despite a foreign outcry. By Diana Garrisi Youve got to tell them whats happened.. Sighting from the video, the lady who had landed herself into this dire trouble had received over 70 lashes . Support 100 years of independent journalism. by Human Rights Watch) claim that floggings are "often" public. When John White was found dead in his dorm, two weeks after writing the letter of apology to his relatives, the skin on his back had healed. Saudi Arabia abolishes flogging as punishment 'Convicts who have been sentenced to the lash will from now on receive fines or prison terms instead' April 25, 2020 10:38 pm | Updated 10:40 pm IST All rights reserved. Saudi lawbreakers face rough justice General of the British Empire, Sir James Charles Napier, in his Remarks of Military Law wrote that sentences of thousands lashes were common at the end of the eighteenth century. Page updated May 2021, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2000, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2001, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2003, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2004, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2005, US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices for 2006, End secrecy, end suffering - an Amnesty International briefing, case of 35 men sentenced to jail and lashes, UN Committee Against Torture, 10 May 2002, The Saudi Media Debates Flogging by the Saudi Religious Police, UN Human Rights Commission: 1997: Thematic Reports, 1994: Unwelcome "guests": The plight of Iraqi refugees, November 1997: Behind Closed Doors: Unfair Trials In Saudi Arabia. appreciated. See paragraphs 24 and 29-31 for the Saudi official response to accusations that judicial flogging constitutes torture. A few days earlier, White, under the effects of alcohol, had had an argument with his sergeant and, during the fight he had stroked the sergeants chest with a metal bar. "Raif called me. In order to discipline the mind it was considered necessary to discipline the body. But Ensaf, he said soothingly. What do you say when the person you love tells you that hes going to be abused in the most horrible way? Cites several whipping cases, with some detail of how particular floggings were carried out. Death sentences are almost exclusively based on the system of judicial sentencing discretion (), following the classical principle of avoiding Sharia-prescribed penalties when possible.In recent decades, the government and the courts have increasingly issued these sentences, reacting to a rise in violent crime during the 1970s. After Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was arrested and sentenced to prison and 1,000 lashes, Ensaf Haidar wondered what to say when the person you love tells you that hes going to be abused in the most horrible way. Copyright 2014 - 2023. At all events, this punishment is being inflicted by officials in uniform, who are presumably police or judicial officers of some sort. They stayed quite still and didnt ask any questions. Dont worry. Detained: June 17, 2012. Here, in an excerpt from her new book, Raif Badawi, The Voice of Freedom: My Husband, Our Story (Other Press), she describes learning that his sentence would begin, and how she told her children of their fathers fate. In July he was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment and a fine, followed by deportation . Whites body was just about to be buried when the coroner for Middlesex decided to hold a judicial inquiry. Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme said: "The world's spotlight is shining on Saudi Arabia. A recent case in Saudi Arabia that has been covered around the world concerns the blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for subversion. One of them had been sentenced to lashes, which were never inflicted. Sentence: Ten years in prison, 1,000 lashes, a fine of 1 million riyals (equal to about $266,000), and is banned from any media work or foreign travel for 10 years after his release from prison. Did you encounter any technical issues? 2014: South Park's Cartman says he's 'trans' to use girls' bathroom. His punishment began last week outside al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah after the Friday prayers. It is not absolutely certain that this is official JCP ordered by a court. The change has followed increased criticism of Saudi Arabia's treatment of prisoners, especially political opponents under bin Salman, after scholar Abdullah al-Hamiddied in prison on Friday. Ms Haidar, asked a womans voice. I couldnt see his face. Flogging in the military, navy, schools and private homes was a common disciplinary measure in the nineteenth century. Flogging with a cane is administered for less serious offences, such as drinking alcohol. Theyre your children after all.. Its a scandal, they wrote. Reveals that the Saudi authorities have contested the UN view that judicial corporal punishment constitutes torture. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates. 00:46. He couldnt tell me how things would go after that. According to Wilson, the injuries resulting from flogging were confined to the skin but the flogging was followed by inflammation of the internal organs and pulpy softening of muscles. They sulked a little but accepted it. They often undertook a sort of training to learn how to flog, using a tree trunk as a body. At paragraph 32 we are informed that the Saudi Arabian judiciary is "completely independent", a claim not supported by various USSD and Amnesty reports. According to the British nonprofit, which campaigns against the death penalty, the rate of execution in Saudi Arabia has doubled since 2015, when King Salman succeeded to the throneafter the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah. Around 100 people are beheaded in Saudi Arabia every year, with the country beheading nearly twice as many people as Isis so far in 2015. SAUDI Arabia's medieval punishments are in the spotlight as the country's investment fund looks to set to take over Newcastle United. End secrecy, end suffering - an Amnesty International briefing Its important that we think together about how to ensure that your children dont suffer any harm from this. All OK where you are? There was nothing I could do about it. When would the prison warders wake him? Thanks to Saudi Arabias brutal and inhumane treatment of blogger Raif Badawi, flogging as a punishment is back in the news. Saudi Arabia was recently condemned for sentencing liberal blogger Raif Badawi to 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam through electronic channels". On occasions they have been carried out in public, as in this 1970s photograph and also this one. Speaking from Canada, his wife Ensaf Haidar told . Defend labour rights Having a drink on the flight en route to Saudi Arabia. When would they lead him in front of the mosque in handcuffs?
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