Execution in Saudi Arabia

20
135

ht_saudi_beheading_02_jef_130110_wmain

Many of you will have seen the horrible news that Saudi Arabia is intending to go ahead with the planned crucifixion and execution of Ali Mohamed al-Nimr who was arrested when he was a child.

Taken from the UN News site, and from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:

“…Mr. al-Nimr, then a high school student, was arrested in 2012 when he was 17 by the Saudi authorities for his reported participation in ‘Arab Spring’ protests in Qatif, Eastern Province. The Specialized Criminal Court in May 2015 sentenced him to death for joining a criminal group and attacking police officers. He was reportedly subjected to torture and ill treatment by the General Investigation Directorate which forced him to confess the charges against him.

[…] Mr. al-Nimr’s appeal made by his lawyer was heard without prior notification and the proceedings fell short of international standards.

“Mr. al-Nimr did not receive a fair trial and his lawyer was not allowed to properly assist him and was prevented from accessing the case file. International law, accepted as binding by Saudi Arabia, provides that capital punishment may only be imposed following trials that comply with the most stringent requirements of fair trial and due process, or could otherwise be considered an arbitrary execution,” said the [Special Rapporteur] experts.

[…]

Two other individuals are at risk of an imminent execution after being arrested for their participation in Qatif when they were children. “

This is abhorrent.  I call on the New Zealand Government to formally protest.  We should call in the Saudi Consular General and demand that this young man’s life be spared.  He should be allowed access to a free and impartial hearing.

There are moments when it is worth saying something.  This is a moment, Minister McCully.

20 COMMENTS

  1. A 17 year old.

    An unfair trial .

    His lawyers unable to assist him.

    Then a sentence to death by a Crucifixion.

    ……………………………….

    McCully !!!??!!!….get cracking at once , man !!!!

    – Just get cracking !!!!

    Otherwise the whole motive your govt said it has for sending our troops to Iraq really and truly becomes a joke.

  2. John Key actually stand up for something that might have an effect on the dollars we “earn” from that abomination of a country? Please don’t hold your breath.
    It is after all, official, you know.
    How he can’t be sick to his stomach, I do not know.

  3. crucify AND behead–that’ll learn him…tell me more about this merciful god…

    it seems a good number of our global citizens have still not even begun to enter the 21st century in regards to human rights

    it will be petty justice but the sooner the oil runs out the better, let these butchers live in the hulks of their Lambos

  4. “Well I’m pretty comfortable with it, given our good trade relationship, and let’s not forget our sheep deal which NZ stand to benefit billions from, I think that’s what most NZers want.”

    • Exactly, petro-dollars and trade trump human rights. I would have thought that our representative to the UN would want to speak out against such atrocities but, like the rest of them, there is silence.

  5. Back in the 90s muzza was the go to guy if the nats wanted the shit kicked out of anyone. He is not known for his sound ethics. Indeed the unkind might say that he has the moral standard of a p dealing psychopath. He will be hiding under his desk at the UN rather than risk offending his Saudi buddies. What an embarrassment. Key and mccully make bush and Cheney look enlightened.

  6. And Saudi Arabia have just been elected to chair the human rights council at the UN. McCully and Key are silent. They’re probably planning to send some more sheep over to keep the wealthy businessmen happy and entice some more investment here. Dollars speak louder than human rights for some!

  7. Mr Key used a phrase “get some guts” in February. Now I say to him and Mr McCully “get some guts and join the right side yourselves”. Time for John Key to show that HE actually has some guts and to stand up against this outrage that takes the human race back over two thousand years.

  8. The NZ government does not give a shit about this, as trade and earned dollars come first. John Key also proved his hypocritical stand when only reacting to the refugee crisis hitting Europe after a week of doing nothing, and then only offering a meagre 600 extra refugee acceptances over two and a half year, after the world media showed the horrible pictures of a drowned Syrian Kurdish child being picked up on a Turkish beach.

    Morality is nowhere to be found under this government, and hence they sweep all questions and complaints under the carpet, when it comes to human rights breaches in Saudi Arabia.

    Remember all the rage by Key about the opposition in Parliament not supporting his sending of NZ army trainers to Iraq?

    ISIS was the enemy, rightfully so, but the Saudis do much of the same as IS do under their interpretation under sharia law.

    Nevertheless, we have a major challenge at hand, but the west is good at stuffing up, across the board.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDaVxBH4eqg

Comments are closed.