Tuesday 1 November 2011

Enough to make you lose your head

Reading the news this morning I came across an article that nearly ruined my day. I say nearly because I´ve long given up trying to understand some cultures and so don´t get as upset as I used to.

It read;  "Man beheaded in Saudi Arabia for being a sorcerer"

A country whose favourite (some say only) past time is public capital punishment, Saudi Arabia, fatherland of the late Osama Bin Laden, has gone a step further in alienating itself from the world community by beheading a man accused of sorcery.

The victim was hauled to a public car park where his head was chopped off in front of dozens of onlookers.

What kind of people want to witness such a cruel act?

(Note to self: I´ll never will set foot in countries that have the death penalty. Good job its only a minority.)

The man is understood to have been arrested after he was entrapped by the Mutawaéen (religious police).

He was asked to concoct a spell to cause an officer´s father to leave his second wife!?!?

Yes, I´m as confused as you, but there´s more...

...when Abdul Hamid agreed to do so for a fee of approximately £1000, he was sentenced to death by a secret court without being allowed a lawyer.

Despite several pleas by Amnesty International to King Abdullah to call off the beheading, the execution went ahead as planned.

That the poor man should be sentenced to death without committing anything that would appear to constitute a crime makes this case even more disgusting and barbaric than most- if that´s at all possible.

Witch hunting used to take place in Europe too - albeit in the  dark ages. Luckily for us we´ve moved on a few centuries. Sadly  the Sharia Law countries haven´t and never will, while shackled to religion.

(...)

On a lighter note...

...I was saddened to read about the late Steve Jobs last words as reported by his sister Mona. She said and I quote;

"He looked at his wife, his children at myself and then above us and uttered the words ´ Oh Wow Oh Wow Oh Wow´ "

Poor old Steve had been immersed for so long in his work that he´d never seen his close family in the same place at the same time. At least thats what I think...or maybe... he was thinking about the latest Samsung Galaxy.

2 comments:

  1. Amazing that they are allowed to get away with such cruelty in Saudi Arabia when you consider those nearby who have recently fallen. Oh sorry, yes I remember why -OIL.

    I would have loved to have been as interested in my work as Steve Jobs. Find a job you love and you'll never do a days work again.

    Great blog post Joe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Dicky for your comment and kind words. Jobs didn´t do menial jobs :)

    ReplyDelete