Senators to Saudi Arabia - Go Ahead & Flog, Just Don't Do It In Public

[kpete]

Senators call on Saudi Arabia to cancel public flogging of blogger
Eight senators wrote a letter to King Abdullah warning that further human rights violations could threaten relationship
January 17, 2015 12:15PM ET
by Al Jazeera Staff

A group of high-ranking U.S. senators slammed Saudi Arabia for its plans to publicly flog blogger Raif Badawi and indicated that further repression of peaceful political dissidents in the oil-rich kingdom could jeopardize their close partnership.

In a letter to Saudi King Abdullah obtained by Al Jazeera, eight Senators urged “the immediate halt to this barbaric punishment and the immediate release of Mr. Badawi,” who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes on charges that he insulted Islam in an online forum he founded.

“We value the important partnership between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on many critical issues,” the senators wrote. “However, any further violence or criminal proceedings against Saudi citizens exercising nonviolent freedoms of speech and religion will unfortunately be a source of continued divergence between our countries.”

...........


The senators who signed the letter were Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Marco Rubio, R-Flor.; Dianne Feinstein, D-Cali; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Mark Kirk, R-Ill.; and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.


http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/17/senate-saudi-blogger.html

[Fred Sanders]

1. And also go ahead and behead and enslave and suppress and flog...just keep it private.

But that whole free speech thing your King of the Sandy Oil went to Paris to defend....that is going to be a problem...the mass media is losing its grip on thought control.

[Va Lefty]

2. pathetic

[OKNancy]

3. where did the title of this post come from?

because it sure doesn't reflect what was said in the letter

[Fred Sanders]

5. .a source of continued divergence..." Is fucking mealy mouthed as it gets. Bet this letter is going

straight into a Saudi wastebasket.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Actual headline: Senators call on Saudi Arabia to cancel public flogging of blogger

Subheadline: Eight senators wrote a letter to King Abdullah warning that further human rights violations could threaten relationship.

[vi5]

4. 8 Senators? 8? And only 7 Dems?

Pathetic.

[Fred Sanders]

6. Here is a better letter to the Saudis.

"Hey, Saudis, get your fucked Wahibi religion and religious fucked up laws off the radar, we still bow to your oil reserves. You are making us all look bad. No offence"

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Wow, Fred, so different from the other day's opinions on Saudi clerics!

Link to a thread about Saudi clerics in which you said:
" This guy has no power with some rantings on a website, same as the preachers ranting on websites in
America.This is a hit piece on Islam."
When I posted about Badawi, you accused me of playing 'tit for tat'.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014986754

I'd just like to see some consistency.

[G_j]

7. I thought the letter called for "the immediate release of Mr. Badawi"

[brer cat]

9. There seems to be a disagreement

between what the letter says, and what some perceive it "intends" to say.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. And for the release of his lawyer, who got 15 years...

They also said:
“At a time that the world is wrestling with and mourning violence committed in the name of religious intolerance, such an example of state-sanctioned violence against peaceful religious dialogue is highly troubling and helps legitimize the extremist view that violence is a justified response to the free exercise of speech and religion."

[edhopper]

12. Your title is pure Bullshit

did you even read what the letter said. They are calling for an end to the punishments, period. Public or not.

This is a positive step in confronting religious crap from the Saudis. it should be applauded, not derided.

[G_j]

13. The most serious problem remains unspoken as always

our "partnership".