OK, Peter, I give up

[winterbadger]

"A British school teacher has been arrested in Sudan accused of insulting Islam's Prophet, after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.
...
The BBC's correspondent Amber Henshaw said Ms Gibbons' punishment could be up to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine."

And, in the ongoing Saudi story: "Saudi justice officials say a woman who was sentenced to prison and flogging after she was gang-raped has now confessed to an extramarital affair.
...
Adultery is a punishable offence in Saudi Arabia's strict system of Islamic law, and correspondents say judges are given wide powers to impose custodial sentences or corporal punishment.

The justice ministry statement is at odds with previous published testimony of the woman, who is a Shia Muslim from the Qatif area."

I wonder how much is due to her being a Shi'i...

"Several governments and human rights groups have condemned her sentence and urged it to be lifted. Canada described it as 'barbaric'.

The US, a major Saudi ally, declined to condemn to sentence, but did call it 'astonishing'."

Presumably our government is astonished that the Saudis can get away with this and only wish they were able to do the same...

Comments

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

Oh for goodness sake.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I don't even find it astonishing. It's just par for the course where the Wahabists are concerned. It's sad, and it highlights the sharp differences between the cultures, but it's hardly astonishing.

[winterbadger]

Exactly. I would far rather our government had said it was unacceptable or atrocious, or even simply unjust and brutal. But instead they said 'astonishing' which is, as you rightly observe, about the only thing it isn't.

[winterbadger]

Indeed.