In 2017, Human Rights Watch was complaining that the Saudi crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood had entangled a number of clerics including Sheikh Ayed al-Qarni. “These apparently politically motivated arrests are another sign that Mohammad bin Salman has no real interest in improving his country’s record on free speech and the rule of law,” said Sarah […]
Hugh Fitzgerald: A Saudi Denounces “Obsessive Jew Hatred”; Allah Commanded Us To Love And Respect Jews
The website Memri.org is so full of disturbing news from the Arab and Muslim world — newspaper articles, mosque sermons, academic lectures, media appearances, book excerpts — that we come to expect the worst, and the worst is what we ordinarily get. Recently at the site, for example, Mahmoud Abbas could be seen defending his […]
As human rights abuses rise in Muslim countries, Obama abandons support for reform initiatives
“The last spark of life in the initiatives was quashed once and for all with the arrival of a new US administration.” Yet another Which-Side-Is-Obama-On Alert. “Arab countries fail on human rights–report,” by Samer al-Atrush for Agence France-Presse, December 9 (thanks to Pamela): CAIRO, Egypt — Human rights deteriorated across the Arab world in 2009 […]
Former Guantanamo detainee now top al-Qaeda ideologue
“He was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2006 where he was placed in a national rehabilitation project.” That’s just worked wonders. Gitmo Recidivism Update. “Former GITMO detainee now al-Qaida brass,” from United Press International, December 4 (thanks to all who sent this in): WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) — A former Guantanamo Bay detainee released to […]
Pakistani Christians: Will Saudis allow construction of cathedrals to challenge Swiss ban on minarets?
While the world waxes indignant over the Swiss minaret ban, it is useful to put things into perspective. In Egypt, Christians are persecuted. In Pakistan, construction of new churches is severely restricted. In Saudi Arabia, it isn’t allowed at all. So why is a ban on minarets — not on mosques — so much more […]
Saudi Arabia sentences TV host to death for witchcraft
This is like sentencing to death Carnac the Magnificent. Sharia Alert from the Kingdom of the Two Holy Places: “TV Presenter On Death Row For Witchcraft,” from Sky News, November 24 (thanks to Peter): A man has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for witchcraft because he makes predictions on television. Ali Sibat is […]
Saudi court upholds sentence of beheading and crucifixion
Here is evidence that this verse of the Koran is not a relic of history, but something that Sharia adherents take seriously as instructions valid for all time: “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, […]
Fitzgerald: Saudi Arabia Wants To Make Sure Western Welfare Will Be Waiting
The Saudis — the skimming-off-the-top gang known as the Al-Saud family, and their courtiers, and the government itself — have more than a trillion dollars squirreled away for their Rainy Day Fund. And they will continue to receive, far into the future, hundreds of billions every year. But their proleptic squealing is quite something to […]
Now the Saudis want a handout
Yes, you read that right.
Saudi publisher: Obama’s Nobel is good because he talked to Hamas
And another Saudi papers is happy because Obama has taken “many extraordinary steps in trying to achieve a rapprochement with the Arab and Islamic world.” “Arab Reaction Overwhelmingly Positive to Obama Nobel Prize,” by Edward Yeranian for the Voice of America, October 9 (thanks to News4U): […] Jamal Khashoggi, who is the editor and publisher […]