Amnesty International Urges Authorities To Flog Crime Suspect!

Only in Saudi Arabia (I hope)

I've already blogged about the Saudi judge looking for a way in accordance with Islamic law to impose paralysis on the man who paralyzed his victim.

Amnesty International is urging corporal punishment as an alternative. Babylon and Beyond is struck by the incongruity:

You know a country's human rights situation is bad when even Amnesty International is urging that a guy be methodically whipped or caned on his back as a compromise to avoid an even harsher sentence.


Human rights monitors have grown alarmed over the case of a Saudi man who might have his spinal cord severed as punishment for badly injuring another guy during a fight a few years ago.

Amnesty International has urged Saudi Arabian authorities not to deliberately paralyze the man as a form of retribution for injuries he allegedly caused with a cleaver during a fight.

"We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities not to carry out such a punishment, which amounts to nothing less than torture," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, acting director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Program, said in a statement. "While those guilty of a crime should be held accountable, intentionally paralyzing a man in this way would constitute torture, and be a breach of its international human rights obligations."

According to Amnesty International, a court in the northwestern Saudi Arabian town of Tabuk had asked hospitals whether they could mutilate the man's spinal cord as requested by his alleged victim. One hospital apparently said it could create the injury.

Amnesty said the court could decide not to impose the punishment and instead sentence the suspect to jail, hand him a stiff a fine or at the very worst, systematically whip or cane him on the back.

Basically, Amnesty, among the world's leading human rights groups, is advocating one form of torture in place of an even more horrific punishment.

The man's name has not been publicized. He was originally sentenced to seven months in prison. Amnesty says he was tried without a lawyer. [emphasis added]

First, why not just stop at prison--why does Amnesty International go out of its way to recommend flogging as well?
Secondly, is Amnesty International now claiming that flogging is not a form of torture?

Keep in mind that flogging is still used as a form of punishment elsewhere, according to Wikipedia:

No longer used in most Western countries, flogging or whipping is still a common form of punishment in some parts of the world, particularly in many former British territories and in Islamic countries. Medically supervised caning is routinely ordered by the courts as a penalty for some categories of crime in Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and elsewhere.

One of those other places, thanks to Amnesty International, being Saudi Arabia.

Technorati Tag: Amnesty International and Flogging.