The Saudi Justice Minister Mohammed Al-Eissa was in DC last week and he took the opportunity to set everyone straight about human rights in the Kingdom.
Justice Minister Mohammed Al-Eissa has denounced international rights groups for attacking the Kingdom’s judiciary, saying laws in this country are based on divine precepts contained in the Holy Qur’an.
“Any attack on the judiciary will be considered an attack on the Kingdom’s sovereignty,” he said recently.
Speaking to American lawyers, legal consultants and academics in Washington, Al-Eissa said many people have misunderstood Islamic laws because they follow biased information and ignore cultural differences. “This is the reason for rights organizations making big mistakes in their reports,” he said.
The minister tried to counter misconceptions about various Shariah punishments such as beheading, cutting off hands and lashing. “These punishments are based on divine religious texts and we cannot change them,” he said.
Oh, that kind of misconception. Except of course it’s not a misconception: everyone knows the horrible punishments mandated by sharia are based on religious texts, and that the people on top think they can’t change them. That’s not in dispute, and there is no misconception.
Al-Eissa emphasized the progress of the Kingdom’s criminal justice system. “At Saudi courts criminal proceedings are undertaken publicly to ensure transparency and fair justice.” He said the application of Islamic laws has reduced crime in the Kingdom.
“Islam is a religion of wisdom that calls for dialogue with other religious faiths and peaceful coexistence with other communities,” the minister said. “If it was not a good religion, it would not have lasted for more than 1,400 years and won millions of followers around the world.”
If only that were true.
Referring to capital punishment, he said many other countries have this form of penalty enshrined in their legislation.
Yes, such as the US for instance, to our shame.
Many other countries used to have slavery, too; they were all wrong.
“The punishment of cutting off hands has been instructed by religions other than Islam.” He said the punishment of lashing is only meted out to those convicted of serious crimes related to honor. The Shariah does not approve of cutting off the hands of suspected thieves, he said.
None of that justifies cutting off of hands or lashing. Al-Eissa is trying to justify the unjustifiable.
Everything except the first thing about how “well it’s in divine texts, so we have to!“, literally everything else boils down to the Just-The-Tip defense. “You don’t understand! It’s a myth that we lash people… we only lash people who are REALLY naughty! So you see, it’s a myth!”
Well, I know I always characterize human rights criticisms as attacks when calling for dialog and peaceful coexistence. I wonder if Al-Eissa knows that using the “but those other countries and religions do it too” argument carries the subtext that they’re all inhumanely wrong for doing it.
Thanks for clearing up the the misconceptions that your cruel religious laws are cruel religious laws.
‘Many other countries’? Capital punishment is extremely rare in Western democracies, most abandoned the use of the death penalty 50 years ago.
This is a dialog with an alien, there’s no common currency and Al-Eissa is obviously outraged at all those uppity Kuffars who have no right to criticise Allah’s anointed ones.
Considering how long it’s been, I think it’s time to call on God/Allah/whatever to make an appearance and clear things up for us all.
If G/A/w is not willing to do this, that will be evidence that G/A/w expects us to make up our own minds now.
That word “suspected” is interesting, isn’t it? It makes the sentence sound so innocent and reasonable, doesn’t it?
Blanche @#5:
“If G/A/w is not willing to do this, that will be evidence that G/A/w expects us to make up our own minds now.”
Very good. Going a bit further, God/Allah/WhateverWillDo condenses down to GAWWD.
Mind if I use it?