The ruling has sparked outrage around the globe and particularly from the London based human rights group Amnesty International who claim that surgically paralyzing somebody is tantamount to torture.
Ann Hamilton, Amnesty’s Middle East and North African Deputy Director released a statement overnight strongly condemning the court’s ruling.
“That such a punishment might be implemented is utterly shocking, even in a context where flogging is frequently imposed as a punishment for some offenses, as happens in Saudi Arabia,”
“Paralyzing someone as punishment for a crime would be torture,” she added.
Ali al-Khawaher a 24-year old has already spent the last decade in prison waiting for his parents to raise the $100,000 required to mollify his victim’s relatives.
The Arabic-language Al-Hayat daily quoted Khawaher’s 60-year-old mother as saying “we don’t have even a tenth of this sum!”
Under Sharia law eye-for-an-eye punishments punishment for crimes is allowed.
Al-Hayat is also quoted as saying that a mystery philanthropist is working to raise the money needed to stop al-Khawaher’s punishment from being carried through but doesn’t know how much longer he has before the procedure is carried out.
No light and fluffy news coming out of Saudi Arabia these days…
