A victory for international outrage

King Abdullah has pardoned a rape victim who was sentenced to 200 lashes - not because he saw anything wrong with the sentence, mind you, but because it was hurting his country's image:

With the pardon, Abdullah appeared to be aiming to relieve the pressure from the United States without being seen to criticize Saudi Arabia's conservative Islamic legal system, a stronghold of powerful clerics of the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.

The announcement of Abdullah's pardon was published Monday on the front pages of Al-Jazirah newspaper, which is deemed close to the royal family. But it did not appear in any other local media or the state-run news agency _ in an apparent attempt to play down the case at home.

Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Sheik defended the courts, saying the pardon does not mean the king doubted the country's judges, but that he was acting in the "interests of the people."

"The king always looks into alleviating the suffering of the citizens when he becomes sure that these verdicts will leave psychological effects on the convicted people, though he is convinced and sure that the verdicts were fair," al-Sheik said, according to by Al-Jazirah.

This wasn't the first atrocity carried out by the Saudi hierarchy, and it unfortunately won't be the last. But it does show that the Saudis can be sensitive to international condemnation - and that we should keep speaking out against this "ally" of the West.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at December 17, 2007 06:05 PM