Death for Denouncing Islam Saudi blogger, father of 3 may face execution

[ckaihatsu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvNlbZNvKU8

[greenforest]

Seems like a political issue having nothing to do with religion:



Raif Badawi (born c. 1982,[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-HRW-1) name also transcribed as Raef Badawi[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-ANHRI-2)) is a Saudi Arabian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia) blogger and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals. On 17 June 2012, he was arrested on a charge of insulting Islam through electronic channels,[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-HRW-1) and in December of that year was also cited for apostasy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy), a conviction for which carries an automatic death sentence.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-3)[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-SN-4) Human Rights Watch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch) stated that Badawi's website had hosted material criticizing "senior religious figures".[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-SN-4)Saudi Arabia needs political reform, but I'm wary of attention of this case from Russia and the West - as if they are any better, or care what happens to the people in Saudi Arabia.




(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-SN-4)

[Tim Cornelis]

Saudi Arabia needs political reform, but I'm wary of attention of this case from Russia and the West - as if they are any better
[/URL]

Yeah, yeah they are. You don't get executed in Russia or the West for professing non-hegemonic ideology or insulting religion.

[GerrardWinstanley]

Ignored by most of the mainstream media, as per usual (I would have thought a man being judicially murdered for apostasy in the 21st Century was globally newsworthy wherever this might happen) with anything bad happening in the Middle East that doesn't involve an adversary of Israel.

[greenforest]

Yeah, yeah they are. You don't get executed in Russia or the West for professing non-hegemonic ideology or insulting religion.

Anwar al-Awlaki would beg to differ if not for being assassinated by his own country.

[hatzel]

Nice to see GF is another one of those boring 'the official line on non-Western reactionaries is "meh, there are Western reactionaries"'-types. Yawnnnnn.

[adipocere]

Seems like a political issue having nothing to do with religion:

Saudi Arabia needs political reform, but I'm wary of attention of this case from Russia and the West - as if they are any better, or care what happens to the people in Saudi Arabia.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-SN-4)

Of course it's political. Free Saudi Liberals sounds like something out of a NED mad-lib. I would imagine that Aramco is like the Holy Grail of oil.
(I'm sure that if he were a commie, he would be quietly executed with nary an international peep.)

[Tim Cornelis]

Anwar al-Awlaki would beg to differ if not for being assassinated by his own country.

He wasn't killed for holding political positions contrary to the US establishment now was he? Try saying you don't believe in God, hate your head of state, think he is an idiot, and want to replace the political system with something else in Russia, the Netherlands, and the US. In Russia they will only harass you a bit if you're someone of significance and/or if your opinions are accompanied by action. In the Netherlands, the US, no one will bat an eye. In Saudi Arabia you risk death penalty.


Of course it's political. Free Saudi Liberals sounds like something out of a NED mad-lib. I would imagine that Aramco is like the Holy Grail of oil.
(I'm sure that if he were a commie, he would be quietly executed with nary an international peep.)

Nonsense. It isn't the 1960s. Communists are harmless and it would generate a comparable amount of attention.

[IllumiNaughty]

How does this surprise anyone? The Saudi monarchy only exists because its propped up by the western imperialists anyway right?

[adipocere]

Nonsense. It isn't the 1960s. Communists are harmless and it would generate a comparable amount of attention.

So I suppose this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25526831) was all just a big misunderstanding (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25487854)?

[Tim Cornelis]

So I suppose this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25526831) was all just a big misunderstanding (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25487854)?

False equivalence. This concerned rebels, so evidently did not spark international condemnation.

[Gerrard Winstanley]

So I suppose this was all just a big misunderstanding[/URL]?
The FARC's nothing but a glorified drug cartel nowadays.

[TheWannabeAnarchist]

Saudi Arabia needs political reform, but I'm wary of attention of this case from Russia and the West - as if they are any better, or care what happens to the people in Saudi Arabia.




(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi#cite_note-SN-4)

Saudi Arabia needs revolution, and soon!

[Comrade #138672]

How does this surprise anyone? The Saudi monarchy only exists because its propped up by the western imperialists anyway right?Yes.

Sure, these reactionaries may be worse than Western reactionaries, but this ignores the fact that Western imperialism is backing them up.

So, the political situation is better in the West, but it is wrong to say that the West is better in itself. It is really not.

[Poison Frog]

Are people suggesting the Saudis should be condemned for the horrific ethnically uneven application of the death penalty in the US? Or does the blame by association game only work in one direction?

I disagree that the west must accept any blame for apostasy being a capital offence in Saudi, despite the political links between the two.

The blame is Islam's. Any leftist assertion that the west is partly responsible, misses the point that Islam has been killing apostates for a lot longer than the west has had links with the Saudis. Is the west really going to take a moral stand against it, when there is no credible alternative force ready to take control of Saudi and ban things like the death penalty for apostasy? Or would some prefer that the west helped build and install a ruling party that doesn't kill people who renounce Islam? (Since that kind of policy has proved so successful and popular in Afghanistan).

In world politics it is impossible to maintain links exclusively with those of impeccable conduct, for the obvious reason that no state conducts itself impeccably. We should condemn the west for its crimes, and condemn Islam for its crimes equally.

In many leftist visions of the future, political apostates would be executed just the same. Which brings up an interesting question regarding how two apparently identical executions are distinguished by what you believe.

[khad]

Reactions defending the Saudi Monarchy are not surprising.

www.revleft.com/vb/muslim-brotherhoods-war-t174291/index.html