Saudi Arabia, Just Sentenced A Palestinian Poet To Death — Crime: Being An Atheist

Saudi Arabia is the wolf in sheep's clothing and to continue doing business with them makes us an accessory to their crimes of religious intolerance.

How the Bush family ever become so buddy-buddy with a bunch of ruthless killers like these?
Such nice Texas folks (er,,Connecticut) too.....

Poor guy. I pity anyone who lives there who isn't a slave to their brand of religion.
800 lashes isn't a death sentence anyway?
Savages

Ruh Roh, what I just posted here could be interpreted as insulting according the UN and I may end up in prison.
Well, it was fun guys. Thanks.

a reply to: infolurker

We need to stop funding OPEC. Right now.

We need to develop our own energy reserves. We need to start drilling, expand our energy resources.

Every dollar they receive is tacit approval for their actions.

Also these poets were jailed in Iran for 9 and 11 and a half years for their work, and 99 lashes (for shaking hands with the opposite sex).

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Its a good thing Obama is gonna reduce our dependency on scumbag oil by approving the Keystone Pipeline... oh wait... he decided that wasn't in our nation's best interests...

*scratches head*

originally posted by: Bone75
Its a good thing Obama is gonna reduce our dependency on scumbag oil by approving the Keystone Pipeline... oh wait... he decided that wasn't in our nation's best interests...

*scratches head*

That was because the right person was already making the transport money via train:

www.zerohedge.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

A bridge too far for the Saudi kingdom I think. If they don't evoke a pardon, they are lost.

a reply to: infolurker

But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.

This would imply God is actually vulnerable to human propaganda. They think God is so powerless that a mere atheist could destroy his image, so they must step in and murder those people because God cannot. It just proves how little faith this people truly have in God.

a reply to: seagull

Time is ticking on the life span of the Saudi regime. By 2020 Iranian backed Houthi forces will have completed their take over of Yemen. After Yemen , Saudi Arabia will be in the sights of Iran/ Houthi. The regime will be defeated because of it's oppressive nature which the very topic of this thread displays so well. Women for instance aren't going to fight for rights they don't have in their homeland.

a reply to: xpert11

Their attack on Yemen has been ferocious. I was just reading this article about the vindictive damage done to some of the irreplacable landmarks in the region:

The Saudi-led aggression has destroyed nearly two dozens archaeological landmarks in Yemen since the beginning of Riyadh government's airstrikes on the Arab country, the General Organization of Antiquities and Museums announced on Saturday.
The demolished archaeological sites are stretched from capital Sana'a to Ma'rib, Aden, Dhale, Sa'ada, Ta'iz, Hodayda, Shabwa and Hajjah, the organization said. A sum of six ancient cities, six castles, three museums, two mosques, four palaces and several other archaeological sites have been destroyed in Yemen.
Less reported in the Saudi-led bombardments is the damage inflicted on cultural heritage sites in Yemen that have made extraordinary contributions to world civilization...
On June 12, the historic city of Sana'a, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was bombarded by the Saudis. This city, continuously inhabited for over 2,500 years, contains some of the most beautiful traditional architecture in the world. The deliberate targeting of a civilian district of the old city was inexcusable and raises serious questions about Saudi Arabia’s intentions in this conflict.

Archaeology News Network

I really hope you're right about time running out for this regime, because they seem to have carte blanche right now to do whatever they like without retribution.

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
Where all the claims from the usual cheerleader propagandists that "this is not real islam" and "these are not real muslims" and "islam is the religion of peace"?

Seems they are steering way clear of this one.

originally posted by: infolurker

originally posted by: NateTheAnimator
a reply to: infolurker

And the Saudi's are the head of human rights for the U.N, oh my...

That is such a joke. Any legitimacy the UN thought it may have had went out the window when they started appointing tyrant regimes to their Human Rights Councils.

I'm waiting for one of them to be giving a noble peace prize. It would be the icing on the cake.

originally posted by: NateTheAnimator
a reply to: infolurker

And the Saudi's are the head of human rights for the U.N, oh my...

I was shaking my head at that and thinking how ridiculous that is. Sentencing people to 100s of lashes etc.

Then I thought: Who should be a head of human rights? Best I can think of is a couple of Scandinavian countries and maybe Iceland? Pretty grim indictment of the rest of us.

As for executing atheists? What a mess. Don't know if Ashraf Fayadh is brave or suicidal. Being atheist in SA must be like saying, "Hey, Jews ain't all bad" in 1939 Germany. Guaranteed prison, pain and possibly death.

I've subscribed to an atheist comic blog for several years. The writer's English and still has to hide his identity to defend against attacks by Christian and Muslim fundamentalists.

People at long last are identifying Saudi as the instigator of terrorism and its about time.

Saudi has built mosques in no end of countries and exported their own imams to spread their poisonous and backward ideology.

Their ideology means that anyone speaking out against islam and what is importantly King Saud's power base gets crucifixation, stoning or another assassination method carried out against them. In 2015 our world should have freedom of speech as a human right and especially the right to choose whether to be religious or not. Saudi is dictating what choices and opportunities its own people have and is influencing those of other countries all around the world.

We are told it funds terrorism yet we are allied to it because of oil. Surely its time to try to change our dependence on Saudi oil and put them on the list of terrorist enablers against Western values.

Religion needs transparency and a lot of exactly what it teaches needs to be updated or outlawed. Marrying and having sex with children, beating wives, killing others who leave or are not religious needs to be addressed. Trying to bring in religious laws which people think are above the law of the land is not acceptable. In any other context these people and their thugs who promote it would be in prison and quite rightly so.

Someone's got to say it?

“They accused me [of] atheism and spreading some destructive thoughts into society,” said Fayadh. He said that the book, Instructions Within, published in 2008, was “just about me being [a] Palestinian refugee … about cultural and philosophical issues. But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.”


Adam Coogle, of Human Rights Watch, said Fayadh’s death sentence showed Saudi Arabia’s “complete intolerance of anyone who may not share government-mandated religious, political and social views.”

Link

Coogle is your friend.


What's the deal with Islam's known hate toward poet`s?

I don`t like most country music either, but I don`t wish them dead.

And their the head of the UN of human rights?

a reply to: gps777

Islam isn't against poets, some Islamic regimes are though. It reminds me of Commie Russia where writers and poets had to hide their writings or face death. One of my favourite writers, Gogol, buried his anti-State satire under absurdism. I'm also reminded of the 1950s trials under McCarthyism. The State sought to second guess creativity as a Commie plot. Nazis burning books and killing writers too.

The lesson for the Saudis is censorship only ever makes the States that use it look like assholes. History never looks back at censorship and thinks, 'What a great idea. Let's bring that back!'

a reply to: Kandinsky

Hmm ok

I would like to know what this guy wrote though, I don`t believe he was an Atheist as I don`t think he would be stupid enough to go to Saudi Arabia if he was.

Heck I`ve heard of the big signs on their freeway that says "Muslims Only" when approaching Mecca and an arrow pointing toward a turn off for all non Muslims. Given their track record one would have to be nuts to go there.

originally posted by: infolurker
Oh look, our civilized ally in the Middle East is again so fairly dispensing Sharia justice. So, his crime was being an Atheist (which means renouncing Islam which is a Death Sentence in SaudKillistan.

Why do we deal with this brutal POS regime? I would not shed a tear if these sorry excuses for civilized humans were removed from power (to be gentle about my wording).

www.blacklistednews.com...

Fayadh harmed no one, however, the religious police of Saudi Arabia sentenced him to death on Tuesday for his choice of words.

According to the Guardian, the religious police first detained Fayadh in August 2013 after receiving a complaint that he was cursing against Allah and the prophet Muhammad, insulting Saudi Arabia and distributing a book of his poems that promoted atheism.

“They accused me [of] atheism and spreading some destructive thoughts into society,” said Fayadh. He said that the book, Instructions Within, published in 2008, was “just about me being [a] Palestinian refugee … about cultural and philosophical issues. But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.”

Adam Coogle, of Human Rights Watch, said Fayadh’s death sentence showed Saudi Arabia’s “complete intolerance of anyone who may not share government-mandated religious, political and social views.”

Coogle is correct, Fayadh is not alone in his persecution. The Saudi regime is a violent and merciless group of killers. To this date, they have far surpassed ISIS in removing the heads of people who oppose them.

www.theguardian.com... email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=*Morning%20Brief

David Batty
Friday 20 November 2015 05.40 EST
A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam.

A Saudi court on Tuesday ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, who has curated art shows in Jeddah and at the Venice Biennale. The poet, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling.

Fayadh, 35, a key member of the British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia, was originally sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes by the general court in Abha, a city in the south-west of the ultraconservative kingdom, in May 2014.

But after his appeal was dismissed he was retried last month and a new panel of judges ruled that his repentance did not prevent his execution.

“I was really shocked but it was expected, though I didn’t do anything that deserves death,” Fayadh told the Guardian.

So he is on death row because he is a Marxist stooge spreading his Marxism

a reply to: gps777

I'll have to check, but I think the guy's a Saudi national and part of the arts scene there. As ever, the arts world is where grass roots protest frequently finds support.

If I was gonna take an atheist stance against SA, it'd be more intelligent to do it from outside their borders. It's such a repressive regime that they could run through a 100 martyrs a week without public opinion being swayed. Any place that's happy to use public floggings is on the back end of civilised society.

ETA - my mistake for not reading links and multi-tasking. I thought he was a Palestinian-Saudi like an IrishAmerican.

He's facing death for being a normal, healthy bloke:

The case went to trial in February 2014 when the complainant and two members of the religious police told the court that Fayadh had publicly blasphemed, promoted atheism to young people and conducted illicit relationships with women and stored some of their photographs on his mobile phone.

www.theguardian.com...

a reply to: gps777

What's the deal with Islam's known hate toward poet`s?

It's not Islam. It's people using/misusing the precepts of Islam against poets. Some of the most beautiful poetry ever made was written by poets living under Islams sway.

Don't blame the religion, blame the humans using it.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Yep I`m on board with that Kandinsky.

Public floggings however are some of the least of punishments in those extreme Islamic countries.