The Death Sentence That Could Inflame Sectarian Tensions Across The Middle East

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/21/death-sentence-could-inflame-sectarian-tensions-across-middle-east

Last October, Saudi Arabia’s Special Criminal Court sentenced Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr — a popular Shi’ite cleric and outspoken political dissident — to death.

This was not an ordinary criminal trial, even considering Saudi Arabia’s liberal use of capital punishment. Among other charges, the prosecutor sought to convict al-Nimr of “waging war on God” and “aiding terrorists,” even calling for the cleric to be publicly executed by “crucifixion.” In Saudi Arabia, this rare method of execution entails beheading the individual before publicly displaying his decapitated body.

The widely revered Shi’ite cleric was ultimately convicted of “disobeying” the king, waging violence against the state, inviting “foreign meddling” in the kingdom, inciting vandalism and sectarian violence, and insulting the Prophet Muhammad’s relatives. However, al-Nimr’s family and supporters claim that the ruling was politically driven and insist that the cleric led a non-violent movement committed to promoting Shi’ite rights, women’s rights, and democratic reform in Saudi Arabia.

Since the October 15 ruling, high-ranking political and religious authorities in Iran and international human rights organizations have sought to pressure the Saudi Arabian leadership into sparing al-Nimr’s life. Demonstrations demanding that the death sentence be revoked have been held in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, and the United Kingdom, underscoring the international sensitivity surrounding al-Nimr’s imprisonment and death sentence.

While many experts doubt that the Saudi Arabian authorities will actually carry out the execution, it is important to take stock of the political context in which the Special Criminal Court issued the death sentence.

[sabrina 1]

1. Why are these people US allies? Close allies?

We point fingers at some dictatorships, while we embrace others. Do we have ANY moral standards at all?

Saddam eg. How are the Saudis any better than Saddam Hussein was when it comes to human rights issues?

And why do the American people turn a blind eye to the hypocrisy of our Foreign Policies?

Looking at the photo of World Leaders who showed up in France eg.

The world laughed at the notion that any of those present were proponents of 'free speech'.

They were there because of two words: 'Muslim, Terrorist'. Those are code words for forever war.

Sometimes you wonder if it isn't better to find a place to hide from all of it.