Why BenBaz Aziz was put in prison for a year.
In the name of his highness the prince of Kuwait
case no 108/2012 CID
sued by Public Prosecution
Against: Aziz ben baz
Reasons:
1- he broadcasted opinions include sarcams and insulting to islam via internet.
2- national security has reported CID that the blogger has insulted god and prophet abraham through a picture he posted.
3- he calls for atheism and insulting islam.
Sentence: 1 year + fine 250 dollars
Remind me never to visit Kuwait I am so very guilty of all those counts!
(Thinking Kuwait – don’t they kinda owe us Westerners for freeing them from Saddam’s invasion back in 1991?)
Talk about your victim-less crimes and ridiculous sentences – it would be funny were it not actually imposed and causing real suffering to a human individual whose “crime” is thinking and arguing for something the Islamic authorities disagree with.
The term “thought-crime” gets bandied about a bit by some online – this case is what a real thought-crime actually looks like.
don’t they kinda owe us Westerners for freeing them from Saddam’s invasion back in 1991?
What, freeing them from one western-sponsored dictator and returning them under the rule of another? What would anyone “owe” anyone for a favor of such magnitude?
@ ^ Marcus Ranum : Well, the Kuwaiti sheiks were the original rulers and their chosen governing mob from what I gather. Western sponsored dictators? I don’t think so. Natural born Muslim dictators, perhaps.
In any case we saved the Kuwaiti people from being wiped out and ruled by Saddam Hussein’s tyranny and destroyed a separate country so some credit’s due for that surely?
Also I think we did insist on a few democratic measures post-liberation from Saddam’s Iraq such as allowing women to vote and be politicians in their equivalent of parliament if memory serves.
Myself I liked opinions include sarcams and insulting to islam on internet. More please.
Yeah, and Saudi Arabia kinda owes us for the billions of dollars of military aid over the years… Yet they’re still a viciously repressive totalitarian theocracy which sponsors terrorism throughout the region. It’s almost as if our foreign policy is driven more by realpolitik considerations (and good old-fashioned greed) than concern for freedom, democracy, and human rights. Who’d a thunk it?
StevoR@3,
Perhaps you’d like to tell us what part you personally played in the 1991 ejection of Saddam Hussein’s occupying army from Kuwait? Then we can judge whether any Kuwaitis actually owe you anything.
All things considered, that’s pretty lenient. Saudi Arabia kills you on the spot.
Having been to Kuwait as one of their very few tourists, I can tell you they laud the US all the time in their press, and love to talk about what a “great friendship” they have with the US. Bush Sr. had those oil contracts with the Kuwaiti royalty, the al-Sabhas, and so had many personal connections which benefited Bush Jr. greatly in conducted the Iraq War. Hell, US and UK citizens are the only ones who don’t need to pay for a visa. Even Saudi citizens next door, with whom they share much more of a cultural history (and who have lots of horny teenagers crossing the border to get to third base) have to pay. The US is more privileged in Kuwait’s eyes.
More on point though, Kuwait doesn’t want to be Saudi Arabia. They look at the UAE with its towers and great reputation and say “Hey, we like money” and they understand that oil is a finite resource. They’re trying to get into the trading business like the UAE and don’t want the bad press that any anti-Western loudmouth clerics bring. They’ve smoothed things over with its non-Kuwaiti Muslim population, including the Shiites, and they silence any cleric who talks about radical Islam or fighting in Syria or anything like that. I wouldn’t expect miracles from them, especially not on Ben Baz Aziz — for example, their idea of democracy is musical chairs as the prince likes to dissolve the parliament when it doesn’t agree with him — but they’re doing much better comparatively speaking.