Blind Justice?

This is a follow up to my previous post .

A Saudi court is trying to persuade a man paralyzed in a fight to drop his demand to inflict a similar injury on his attacker by having his spinal cord surgically damaged, a judiciary spokesman said Monday.The court has determined that such a procedure could result in the attacker’s death and is appealing to the victim to accept financial compensation instead, the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity under judiciary rules.

After consulting with Saudi hospitals, the judge ruled that such a procedure could be fatal and that blood money would be a fair deal.

Rights group Amnesty International has urged Saudi authorities not to deliberately paralyze the attacker, saying that doing so would constitute torture. Saudi Arabia enforces strict Islamic law and occasionally doles out punishments based on the ancient legal code of an eye-for-an-eye.

According to Amnesty, convicts have had teeth pulled by dentists in retribution for knocking people’s teeth out in fights and others have been sentenced to be blinded after causing people to go blind.

Blind Justice?

A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals if they are willing to surgically damage a man’s spinal cord as punishment for a cleaver attack that left a 22 year old man patralyzed. The victim became paalyzed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than 2 years ago.

The attacker was sentenced to 14 months in jail but released after only serving 7 months.  The family of the victim is upset about the early release of the attacker and is asking for an appeal and their “legal right under Islamic law”.  According to the family of the victim, “There is no better word than God’s word – an eye foe an eye.”

The judge has since asked several hospitals if medical paralysis was possible and would they perform the surgery. It is reported that one hospital in the capital city of Riyadh had declined, saying it could not inflict such harm.

Saudi Arabia enforces strict Islamic law and occasionally hands out punishments based on ancient legal code. It is hard to follow details of the Saudi justice system as people are sentenced in closed trials with no access to the public and no lawyers.

Amnesty International has expressed concerns over the reports and said it was contacting Saudi authorities for details.

Original article here.

Mariam Yammahi has three children. Two have genetic abnormalities.  “I would never allow my child to marry a first cousin,” she says. “Not after what has happened to me.”

When Cousins Marry

Mrs Yammahi, 26, is from a traditional family in Fujairah. Eight years ago, she and her prospective husband, her first cousin, were screened for the most common genetic diseases at the Thalassaemia Centre in Dubai.

Her first son, Abdulaziz, now seven, was born with a condition that remains unnamed. Among his ailments are an enlarged head with dangerous water retention. He also has congenital heart disease and had to have surgery for a hole in his heart. He cannot walk and his speech is only just developing.

Although she expected further complications with her second child, she was born healthy and is now five. It was her youngest, Sara, now three, who would be born with the same condition as her brother. She is deaf and refuses to use a hearing aid, which has resulted in impaired speech.

The children of Mrs Yammahi’s second cousin have the same condition, as do three of Mrs Yammahi’s cousins. It is probably no coincidence that they all married cousins.

The tradition, she says, is more common in more rural areas, such as Fujairah, and her new home, Al Ain, where she moved to study computer engineering at UAE University.

No all traditions, even legal ones here, are necessarily good ones.

The Icelandic volcano has paralyzed air travel in Europe.

All the technology in the world can’t hold a candle to the power of nature letting off a little steam. Volcanic ash from an Icelandic volcano has drifted towards the UK and has grounded 11,000 flights worldwide.

Tens of thousands of passengers are unable to fly out of Dubai and Abu Dhabi today as Etihad Airways, Emirates and other airlines cancel flights to the UK. About 18,000 passengers travelling with Emirates alone have been affected. Emirates airlines has booked 3,500 hotel rooms in the vicinity of Dubai International Airport, costing US$1 million (Dh3.67 million) per day in accommodation alone.

With no change in air patterns forecast, the cancellations forced by the volcano ash over the UK yesterday were expected to extend into tomorrow. 

I have to be in Dubai on June 2nd and hopefully this will all blow over (sorry) by then. Otherwise I am going to have to drive there or take a boat. I’d better start packing now, just in case.

Cross species kissing would probably get you beheaded.

A British couple accused of committing a public sexual act by kissing on the lips will spend a month behind bars, after losing their appeal against their conviction in the Dubai Court of Appeals today.

Original article here.

AN, 24, a marketing executive, and CA, a 25-year-old tourist, were convicted in January and sentenced to one month in jail followed by deportation, and fined Dh1,000 for consuming alcohol.

The defendants were arrested after an Emirati woman with her family filed a complaint on November 28 claiming that the two had been kissing and touching each other in a sexual manner in front of her children at a diner in Jumeirah Beach Residence. AN and CA both admitted drinking alcohol but denied committing a sexual act, claiming they had kissed each other on the cheek.

The defendants’ lawyer, Khalfan al Hosani, told the judges that the 38-year-old Emirati woman – currently the only adult witness in the case – had presented two different testimonies to police and public prosecutors.

What a great way to promote tourism, an industry your country depends on.

First of all, before my friends and family get upset about my move to the UAE, this story is from Saudi Arabia, not from where I will be moving. The UAE lives in the 21st century.

A Lebanese man condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi court will not be beheaded today as had been expected, his lawyer said.

Ali Sibat, a 49-year-old father of five, made predictions on an Arab satellite TV channel from his home in Beirut. He was arrested by the Saudi religious police during his pilgrimage to the holy city of Medina in May 2008 and sentenced to death last November for witchcraft.

See the original article here.

The Saudi justice system, which is based on Islamic law, does not clearly define the charge of witchcraft.  Sibat is one of scores of people reported arrested every year in the kingdom for practicing sorcery, witchcraft, black magic and fortunetelling. The deeply religious authorities in Saudi consider these practices polytheism.

Don't open these in Saudi Arabia

Made predictions? Death by beheading? Witchcrat?

Christianity embarassed itself 300 years ago with these same kinds of antics. The Salem witch trials and public executions of people that didn’t quite fit into society were “justified” because of the Puritan’s extreme interpretation of the Bible.

But Ali Sabat just made a prediction and this is interpreted as polytheism. I suppose carrying fortune cookies or one of those fortune telling magic 8 balls are also a captal offense in Saudi Arabia.  Is meterology considered heresy as well?

I did see a weather forecast on television when I was last in the UAE, so I am not worried about losing my head the next time I go there.  I am going to make it a top priority to befriend some Emirates and find out more about the culture.

Yes,  the UAE is in official mourning as the body of the missing sheik was recently found after a glider accident in Morocco. Sheik Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, head of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and younger brother of the emirate’s ruler, was ranked 27th in Forbes‘ most recent list of the world’s most powerful people.

Associates described the sheik as quiet and cautious, despite the fact that he was one of the most powerful men in the world.

The 40-year-old prince had no deputy director at the $650 billion fund, which invests Abu Dhabi’s oil revenue. Experts believe his death is likely to spark a power struggle within the emirate’s royal family. The sheik wasn’t part of the powerful clique controlled by his nephew, the crown prince, who is now expected to attempt to gain control of the fund and consequently control of virtually all of Abu Dhabi’s economy.

Illegal flambé?

…and then quickly declares “Never mind!”  Original article here.  However, it’s already outdated.

As I am currently outside looking in at the UAE, it seems that there is a constant struggle brewing between the local Emirates who make policy over there. On one hand, they need the tourism income and need to maintain the image and feel that Dubai is more European (Western) than Middle Eastern. Underneath it all, however, it is still an Arabic country and the Islamic rules, morals and laws are dearly held sacred by most who are in control. Anyone outside of the UAE paying attention can see the struggle between traditional morals and standards and the necessity to keep the economy afloat. After all, isn’t it in the master plan to make Dubai “the” world’s top tourist destination? British newspapers are already making a big deal about the couple going to jail over a kiss on the cheek. You think that’s going to help tourism? Laws are made, everyone squawks, laws are recinded. It’s actually quite amusing.

Two Emirates Airline cabin crew have been jailed for three months for exchanging lewd text messages. The court said the texts “fulfilled all the necessary angles of coercion to the commitment of sin”.

Sex text messaging is illegal here.

See this article for the entire story.  The headlines fromthe UAE also mention the plight of two expats who have been jailed for kissing at a restaurant.  Although Dubai and Abu Dhabi are more “relaxed” than the rest of the Middle East when it comes to the Islamic moral code, you still have to realize you are in a different culture here and obey the rules. Dubai reminds me of a cross between Newport Beach, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, but that is intentional, in an successful attempt to lure the rest of the world here for tourism and holidays.  Just don’t forget where you really are.

I’m glad I’m happily married.  I’d hate to be single and looking in the UAE. Getting to first base can get you thrown out of the game.