Too bad 'Bandar Bush'(As Bush is lovingly referred to by Prince Bandar) won't have much to say over this, since the Saudis are our allies, while Saddam was that oh so evil tyrant. But hell, we get like 20% of our imported oil from them, so it's the thought that counts, eh? On a side note from this article, the Saudi Royal Family has orchestrated the deaths of thousands of its own people, be they political opponents, dissenters, or those of different religions than him. I'm waiting for the American media to mention something.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=627922
Saudis execute six men without sentence
By Steve Bloomfield
10 April 2005
Abshir Hassan, a 29-year-old London bus driver, has accused Saudi Arabia of executing his brother Abdel-Fatteh and five other Somalis last week without ever telling them that they had been condemned to death.
Only when they were about to be beheaded did they learn their fate, he told The Independent on Sunday.
Mr Hassan, an Arsenal fan, said he had joked with his brother, who supported Manchester United, about the state of their respective teams in a telephone call last Monday, just hours before Abdel was executed. "The next day Amnesty called and said they had been killed," he said.
A Sudanese beheaded in Saudi Arabia yesterday for drug smuggling brought the total so far this year to 40, more than the country's 33 executions in the whole of 2004.
Abdel Hassan was among six Somalis who were jailed for five years in 1999 and sentenced to 3,000 lashes for "abducting and robbing" taxi drivers. According to the Saudi embassy in London, the six "committed hundreds of crimes". But when the five years were up, they remained in jail, despite protests from Amnesty International, which says they were never told of the death penalty.
Abshir Hassan claims his brother and five friends were innocent and were forced to sign confessions in Arabic, a language none of them could read, after being tortured. "They never got lawyers, they never got witnesses, they never got anything," he said. "We need help from the world. We don't have a government in Somalia - no one can help us."
Dr Ali al-Qarni, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy in London, dismissed concerns over the increasing number of executions. "The death penalty is not an issue for discussion," he said. "It is Islamic law. A rapist, a killer is going to get capital punishment." He also denied Mr Hassan's claim that the six were not told they were to die. "This story ... is complete garbage. Every person who is to be executed will be told. They are given ample time."
However, a spokesman for Amnesty said: "Any rise in executions is worrying, but the secrecy and lack of fairness makes these figures even more frightening."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=627922
Saudis execute six men without sentence
By Steve Bloomfield
10 April 2005
Abshir Hassan, a 29-year-old London bus driver, has accused Saudi Arabia of executing his brother Abdel-Fatteh and five other Somalis last week without ever telling them that they had been condemned to death.
Only when they were about to be beheaded did they learn their fate, he told The Independent on Sunday.
Mr Hassan, an Arsenal fan, said he had joked with his brother, who supported Manchester United, about the state of their respective teams in a telephone call last Monday, just hours before Abdel was executed. "The next day Amnesty called and said they had been killed," he said.
A Sudanese beheaded in Saudi Arabia yesterday for drug smuggling brought the total so far this year to 40, more than the country's 33 executions in the whole of 2004.
Abdel Hassan was among six Somalis who were jailed for five years in 1999 and sentenced to 3,000 lashes for "abducting and robbing" taxi drivers. According to the Saudi embassy in London, the six "committed hundreds of crimes". But when the five years were up, they remained in jail, despite protests from Amnesty International, which says they were never told of the death penalty.
Abshir Hassan claims his brother and five friends were innocent and were forced to sign confessions in Arabic, a language none of them could read, after being tortured. "They never got lawyers, they never got witnesses, they never got anything," he said. "We need help from the world. We don't have a government in Somalia - no one can help us."
Dr Ali al-Qarni, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy in London, dismissed concerns over the increasing number of executions. "The death penalty is not an issue for discussion," he said. "It is Islamic law. A rapist, a killer is going to get capital punishment." He also denied Mr Hassan's claim that the six were not told they were to die. "This story ... is complete garbage. Every person who is to be executed will be told. They are given ample time."
However, a spokesman for Amnesty said: "Any rise in executions is worrying, but the secrecy and lack of fairness makes these figures even more frightening."
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