Secretary of State Clinton works for Saudi Womens driving rights, while their heads roll for being witches

Saudi Arabia’s Breach of Human Rights
by César Chelala – December 13, 2011 – CommonDreams.org

December 10 is Human Rights Day. On December 12, 2011, Saudi Arabian authorities ordered the execution of a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery. Although the Saudi Interior Ministry didn’t give details of the woman’s crime, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police, who stated that the woman had tricked people, making them believe that she could cure them of a variety of ailments. It was an outrageous response to a serious crime.

“Despite the fact that I hate violence against women, when it comes to God’s will, I have to carry it out,” said Muhammad Saad al-Beshi, Saudi Arabia’s top executioner, during an interview with the Saudi daily Arab News. And with remarkable calm he added, “It doesn’t matter to me: two, four, ten – as long as I am doing God’s will, it doesn’t matter how many people I execute.”

Beheadings of women in Saudi Arabia didn’t start until the early 1990’s. Before then, they were shot. Up to the end of 2011, forty-nine women have been publicly beheaded, mainly in major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah and Dahran. Executioners are proud of their job, which is handed down from one generation to the next. In Saudi Arabia, executioners use a traditional Arab scimitar approximately 44 inches long.

Many people consider the government headed by King Abdullah as reformist. After all, he was behind the decision to allow women to vote and in local elections, albeit in 2015. However, the World Economic Forum 2009 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 130th out of 134 countries when considering gender parity issues. That same report ranked several Muslim countries such as Kyrgystan, Gambia and Indonesia significantly higher than Saudi Arabia on issues of women’s equality. …more