Saudi Court Sentences Man To Be Surgically Paralyzed

Justice or just fawked up??

Saudi Court Sentences Man To Be Surgically Paralyzed

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to be medically paralyzed unless he can raise 1 million Saudi Riyal (almost $267,000) to pay a man he stabbed in the back.

Via HuffPo reports:

When he was 14, Ali al-Khawahir stabbed his friend in the back, paralyzing the victim. The assault earned al-Khawahir a spot in jail — a spot he’s occupied for the last 10 years, the Saudi Gazette reports. Now 24, al-Khawahir either has to pay the victim for forgiveness or have his spinal cord cut, as eye-for-an-eye justice.

Al-Khawahir had originally been expected to pay 2 million Riyal (more than $500,000), but the victim halved the amount after it became clear the sum was too high.

In a translation provided by Reuters, al-Khawahir’s mother told the Arabic language al-Hayat daily that she agreed the victim deserved compensation, “but we don’t have even a tenth of this sum.”

The punishment follows the Islamic principle of “qisas.” In a statement issued Tuesday, Amnesty International likened al-Khawahir’s paralysis punishment to torture.

“That such a punishment might be implemented is utterly shocking, even in a context where flogging is frequently imposed as a punishment for some offences, as happens in Saudi Arabia,” Ann Harrison, the group’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said.

Stoning to death and mutilation of women and young girls, beheadings, shooting school girls for wanting the freedom to learn all in the name of allah. Drones fired at buildings containg women and children, condemnation and discrimination, doctors shot… all in the name of God.

AP