I was just browsing through the Internet and found this:
My concern is: Do the Saudi authority use the charge of 'witchcraft' arbitrarily? Can someone from KSA enlighten me on this. How could one be convicted of practicing witchcraft?Saudi Arabia: Witchcraft and Sorcery Cases on the Rise
Cancel Death Sentences for “Witchcraft”
November 24, 2009
Other Material: Precarious Justice
Letter to HRH King Abdullah bin Abd al-’Aziz Al Saud on "Witchcraft" Case."Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police...The crime of ‘witchcraft' is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state-sanctioned executions."
.Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director .
(Kuwait City) - The cassation court in Mecca should overturn the death sentence imposed on Ali Sabat by a lower court in Medina on November 9 for practicing witchcraft, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the Saudi government to cease its increasing use of charges of "witchcraft" which remains vaguely defined and arbitrarily used.
Ali Sabat's death sentence apparently resulted from advice and predictions he gave on Lebanese television. According to Saudi media, in addition to Sabat, Saudi religious police have arrested at least two others for witchcraft in the past month alone.
"Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The crime of ‘witchcraft' is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state-sanctioned executions."
Religious police arrested Ali Sabat in his hotel room in Medina on May 7, 2008, where he was on pilgrimage before returning to his native Lebanon. Before his arrest, Sabat frequently gave advice on general life questions and predictions about the future on the Lebanese satellite television station Sheherazade, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar and the French newspaper Le Monde. These appearances are said to be the only evidence against Sabat.
Saudi newspaper Al-Madina reported on November 15 that a lower court in Jeddah started the trial of a Saudi man arrested by the religious police and said to have smuggled a book of witchcraft into the kingdom. On October 19, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that the religious police in Ta'if had arrested for "sorcery" and "charlatanry" an Asian man who was accused of using supernatural powers to solve marital disputes and induce falling in love.
In March 2008, Human Rights Watch asked a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice to clarify the definition of the crime of witchcraft in Saudi Arabia and the evidence necessary for a court to prove such a crime. The official confirmed that no legal definition exists and could not clarify what evidence has probative value in witchcraft trials. Saudi Arabia has no penal code and in almost all cases gives judges the discretion to define acts they deem criminal and to set attendant punishments.
In February 2008, Human Rights Watch protested the 2006 "discretionary" conviction and sentencing to death for witchcraft of Fawza Falih, a Saudi citizen. Minister of Justice Abdullah Al al-Shaikh responded that Human Rights Watch had a preconceived Western notion of shari'a, but did not answer the organization's questions about Falih's arbitrary arrest, coerced confession, unfair trial, and wrongful conviction. She remains on death row in Quraiyat prison, close to the border with Jordan, and is reportedly in bad health.
November 10, Okaz reported that the Medina court had also issued the verdict for Sabat on a "discretionary" basis. Both Sabat and the Saudi man accused of smuggling books of witchcraft reportedly confessed to their "crimes." Sabat had no lawyer at trial and only confessed because interrogators told him he could go home to Lebanon if he did, according to May al-Khansa, his lawyer in Lebanon.
In another case, a Jeddah criminal court on October 8, 2006 convicted Eritrean national Muhammad Burhan for "charlatanry," based on a leather-bound personal phone booklet belonging to Burhan with writings in the Tigrinya alphabet used in Eritrea. Prosecutors classified the booklet as a "talisman" and the court accepted that as evidence, sentencing him to 20 months in prison and 300 lashes. No further evidence for the charge was introduced at trial. Burhan has since been deported, after serving more than double the time in prison to which the court had sentenced him.
On November 2, 2007, Saudi Arabia executed Mustafa Ibrahim for sorcery in Riyadh. Ibrahim, an Egyptian working as a pharmacist in the northern town of `Ar'ar, was found guilty of having tried "through sorcery" to separate a married couple, according to a Ministry of Interior statement.
"Saudi judges have harshly punished confessed "witches" for what at worst appears to be fraud, but may well be harmless acts," Whitson said. "Saudi judges should not have the power to end lives of persons at all, let alone those who have not physically harmed others."
In 2007, Saudi Arabia passed two laws restructuring judicial institutions, and in 2009 began implementing what it said was a comprehensive judicial reform under Minister of Justice Muhammad al-‘Isa, who was appointed in February 2009. However, Saudi Arabia has still not codified its criminal laws, and efforts to update the criminal procedure law, which lacks guarantees against forced confessions such as the right not to incriminate oneself, have not yet come to fruition.
Human Rights Watch opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, due to its inherently cruel nature. International standards, for example as expressed in resolution 1984/50 of the UN Economic and Social Council, require all states that retain the death penalty to limit its imposition to the "most serious" crimes.
Saudi judges should overturn witchcraft convictions and free those arrested or convicted for witchcraft-related crimes, Human Rights Watch said. King Abdullah should urgently order the codification of Saudi criminal laws and ensure it comports with international human rights standards.
What kind of ridiculous, scientifically backwards, completely inane society recognizes such laughable offenses as 'witchcraft'? Oh, it's Saudi Arabia. Good luck for any doting lawyers or scientists intending to work there. With this sort of pre-Medieval precedent the cultural norm, you'll need it.
what does science has to do with this? Science is not our god. Neither are scientists our gods. You are wrong if you thought so.format_quote Originally Posted by Supreme
I was told indeed by folks returning from hajj that many youngens dabble in the dark arts in KSA.. hope they have better ways to combat this than mere arrests...
The dark arts are practiced and certainly sung about. Got to hear some satanist metal popping out of the Holy Land.
^ you listen to metal, satanic metal....
no i dont, astagfirullah. I meant that I found out that crap is there too.format_quote Originally Posted by abdulmajid
Is Saudi Arab a holy land? I thought Palestine/Jerusalem was holy...
Saudi Arabia is a country which includes the House of Allah and the places where our Prophet pbuh was born and the sand on which he stepped and the place where he is buried etc. I guess it makes it Holy? I dont mean Holy as in having some Divine powers. That would be shirk. By holy I meant something which has a high status and something which we revere.format_quote Originally Posted by abdulmajidIs Saudi Arab a holy land? I thought Palestine/Jerusalem was holy...
Last edited by CosmicPathos; 04-17-2010 at 04:37 AM.
Black metal is just a laugh the real Satanists are in NATO, UN, Human rights watch etc and all politicians lol. And people that pick on Islam and Sharia law.... Burn the witches! Go Saudi.
And Allah mentioned Jerusalem as a Holy land in Qur'an...[" Moses said unto his people, 'O my people, enter the Holy Land, which Allah hath decreed you.' " - (Qur'an 5:21)]
[" Has not there come to you the story of Moses? How his Lord called him in the the holy valley of Tuwa " - (Qur'an 79:15-16)]
But did Allah mentioned Saudi Arabia as Holy in Qur'an or Prophet said it...
Well I am not a scholar but from the apparent meanings of that verse, it is being directed to the people of Moses. I follow Prophet Muhammad pbuh and the Sharia he brought. Secondly, whether or not Saudia Arab is a holy country or not, I dont know, but I do know that Holy lands are in that country namely Makkah and Madina Munawwara.format_quote Originally Posted by abdulmajidAnd Allah mentioned Jerusalem as a Holy land in Qur'an...[" Moses said unto his people, 'O my people, enter the Holy Land, which Allah hath decreed you.' " - (Qur'an 5:21)]
[" Has not there come to you the story of Moses? How his Lord called him in the the holy valley of Tuwa " - (Qur'an 79:15-16)]
But did Allah mentioned Saudi Arabia as Holy in Qur'an or Prophet said it...
Didnt Allah swt then tell prophet Muhammad pbuh to change Qibla from Al Aqsa to Makkah? If Masjid al Haraam was not Holy why would Allah order that?
Source BBC newsThe lawyer for a Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for witchcraft has appealed for international help to save him.
Ali Sabat was the host of a popular Lebanese TV show in which he predicted the future and gave advice.
He was arrested by religious police on sorcery charges while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2008.
His lawyer, May el-Khansa, says she has been told Mr Sabat is due to be executed this week.
Ms Khansa has contacted the Lebanese president and prime minister to appeal on his behalf.
There has been no official confirmation from Saudi Arabia, but executions there are often carried out with little warning.
Mr Sabat did make a confession, but Ms Khansa says he only did so because he had been told he could go back to Lebanon if he did.
Human rights groups have accused the Saudis of "sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police".
An Egyptian working as a pharmacist in Saudi Arabia was executed in 2007 after having been found guilty of using sorcery to try to separate a married couple.
There is no legal definition of witchcraft in Saudi Arabia, but horoscopes and fortune telling are condemned as un-Islamic.
Nevertheless, there is still a big thirst for such services in the country where widespread superstition survives under the surface of strict religious orthodoxy.
Although the beheading was imminent at the time the article was written (1st April 2010), I have not found any articles confirming that the execution has taken place.
Witch burning is not Muslim's tradition, brother.format_quote Originally Posted by Karl
Or in other words: Would it be dissimilar in practice to Salem and the accounts of the Maleus Maleficarum? And is it true that the crime of witchcraft is ill defined in Saudi Law?My concern is: Do the Saudi authority use the charge of 'witchcraft' arbitrarily? Can someone from KSA enlighten me on this. How could one be convicted of practicing witchcraft?
Last edited by Al-Indunisiy; 04-17-2010 at 01:44 PM.
I also found this while browsing. It's a letter from the Human Rights Watch to King Abdullah on the case of Fawza Falih. The parts which I underlined are what I consider as bearing tangent to my OP question.
Letter to HRH King Abdullah bin Abd al-’Aziz Al Saud on "Witchcraft" Case
February 13, 2008
HRH King Abdullah bin Abd al-’Aziz Al Saud
Royal Court
Riyadh 11111
Saudi Arabia
Your Royal Highness,
Human Rights Watch urges you to immediately halt the execution of Fawza Falih Muhammad Ali, currently imprisoned in Quraiyat Prison. Fawza Falih has exhausted her appeals and her relatives in Jordan believe the papers are currently in your office awaiting your approval of the execution.
The court in Quraiyat, on April 2, 2006 (3/3/1427), sentenced her to death by beheading for the alleged crimes of ““witchcraft, recourse to jinn [supernatural beings], and slaughter” of animals.
Your Highness, the conviction of Fawza Falih for “witchcraft” is a travesty of justice and reveals severe shortcomings in Saudi Arabia’s justice system. The crime of “witchcraft” is not defined by law; judges breached safeguards for a fair trial in existing Saudi law; and there were significant procedural flaws throughout the trial which effectively eradicated her ability to defend herself against the ill-defined charges against her.
We remain convinced that Fawza Falih has not committed any crime at all. First, it is not clear what the actual elements if any of the crime of “witchcraft” are, and the offence is not defined in Saudi law. As you know, Saudi Arabia does not have a written penal code that spells out the elements of a given crime. The accusation of witchcraft appears to have been based upon a broad, vague concept, which cannot be said to constitute “law”. Under international human rights law, persons suspected of crimes may only be charged with offenses as established by law, and which are sufficiently clear so that everyone has the possibility to understand clearly what behavior it is that will cause them to violate that law.
Furthermore, in addition to the lack of a clear definition of “witchcraft” in Saudi law and the absence of a written penal code in which to search for such a definition, the judges in the court of Quraiyat did not define the meaning of “witchcraft”, but instead cited a variety of alleged actions, stated intentions, and “tools” for “witchcraft” in a weak attempt to suggest that “witchcraft” had indeed taken place. The court cited one instance in which a man allegedly became impotent after being “bewitched.” In another, a divorced woman reportedly returned to her ex-husband during the month predicted by the witch said to have cast the spell. The court failed to probe alternative explanations for these developments which appear to be ordinary phenomena. Indeed drawing on the illustrations cited by the courts, it is evident that the practice of “witchcraft”, if it exists, is by its nature impossible to prove, since it involves the alleged use of supernatural powers.
The court record itself reveals significant doubt about the truth of the “witchcraft” accusations, which are substantiated solely on the basis of statements by persons who believed they had been “bewitched,” and by “strange” objects reportedly found in the house of the accused and on a tree.
Court Verdict number 125/2 of October 10, 2006 (17/9/1427) states that Fawza Falih confessed that “I take 1,500 Riyal for each act of which I send half to the magician Abu Tal’a [who allegedly taught her “witchcraft”] according to the agreement, for Abu Tal’a said to me, ‘If you do not bring the money, by God, you will become possessed by jinn like dogs.” If any “strange” acts did indeed take place, they seem to have been the result of a money-making scam. Those who lost money have not sued to have their money returned. Fawza Falih’s alleged actions did not result in any complaints of injury or damage suffered by any party.
In addition, there were numerous procedural and legal errors throughout the course of this trial. Judges of the court appear to have both disregarded established laws and made up new law as the trial proceeded. Their first verdict sentenced Fawza Falih to death for “witchcraft” as an “offense against God” (hadd) with a prescribed punishment of death. The legal basis for this decision includes the statement that witches “are not given the opportunity to repent, because witchcraft is not eradicable by penitence.”
Following remarks on the case by the Court of Appeals of September 1, 2006 (19/12/1427) that two of the accused were sentenced to death “despite having retracted their confessions,” and that consequently “doubt shields from hadd punishments,” the judges in Quraiyat, in a new verdict of June 6, 2007 (25/5/1428), sentenced Fawza Falih to death on a “discretionary” basis, in the name of “public interest” and to “preserve the creed and the souls and property of this country.”
Aside from the spurious nature of the charges against her, during the trial, Fawza Falih attended only the first and the last of at least six sessions. Article 140 of the LCP states that, “in major crimes, the accused shall personally appear before the court.” In the first session, only one judge was present and questioned her. Article 129 of the LCP specifies that a panel of three judges must sit in cases involving death sentences, and Article 7 halts proceedings until the judges have reached the prescribed number. Furthermore, the accused was unable to challenge any of the witnesses against her: the witnesses did not testify in court, but gave written statements, and the judge kept her in the waiting room during sessions when evidence was presented. Article 163 of the LCP states that “Each of the parties may cross-examine the witnesses called by the other party and discuss its evidence.” Fawza Falih in her appeal claims not to even know some of the witnesses who claim have seen her perform acts of “witchcraft”. The denial of her legal right to cross-examine witnesses in court seriously impaired her efforts to defend herself against the charges.
The judge also prevented her son, who was acting as her officially certified legal representative, from attending any of the court sessions, violating Article 4 of the LCP which gives “Any accused person … the right to seek the assistance of a lawyer or a representative to defend him during the investigation and trial stages.” Article 140 states that the obligation to appear in person in major crimes cannot be used as a justification to exclude legal representatives from the proceedings.
Other aspects of the arrest, treatment and trial of Fawza Falih are also deeply worrying. Fawza Falih spent 35 days in detention at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) after her arrest on May 4, 2005 (25/3/1426). Her detention there violated a 1981 royal decree prohibiting the CPVPV from holding and interrogating suspects at their centers. She asserted in her appeal that she was beaten during her interrogation, naming one official of the governorate. Her appeal states that she lost consciousness during one beating and was treated at the hospital. She asserts that fellow female prisoners bandaged her wounds. Human Rights Watch spoke to a relative who was allowed to visit her for the first time after about 20 days in CPVPV detention, following her hospital treatment, and saw marks from beatings on her back. There would thus have been ample evidence to indicate that her confession was coerced.
The interrogators and the judges violated Fawza Falih’s rights to due process and a fair trial in other ways as well. Her family hired lawyer Abdullah al-Suhaimi, but the head of the interrogation committee refused him access to her when he asked to see her within a few days of her arrest. Article 64 of the Law of Criminal Procedure (LCP) specifies that “During the investigation, the accused shall have the right to seek the assistance of a representative or an attorney,” and Article 70 states that “The Investigator shall not, during the investigation, separate the accused from his accompanying representative or attorney.” Furthermore, Fawza Falih, who is illiterate, claims that her confession was not read to her, but that she was nonetheless forced to fingerprint it as a mark of authentication.
Your Highness, Human Rights Watch is deeply troubled by the miscarriage of justice that has occurred in the case of Fawza Falih. We urge you to halt immediately all proceedings for her execution, to void her sentence, and to instruct officials to preserve the facts of the case so that the prosecution may initiate proceedings against the members of the CPVPV and the governorate who wrongfully arrested and mistreated Fawza Falih and so that the inspector of the judiciary is able to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the judges who violated her rights under Saudi and international law.
Sincerely,
/s/
Christoph Wilcke
Researcher
Human Rights Watch
lol human rights watch. Now Mr Wilcke will tell us that if someone committed consensual zina, he shouldnt be killed because "it is impossible to prove if a supernatural God (Allah) exists who would condemn such consensual sex."
I wish they'd crack down on these charlatans in the entire Arab world.. Egypt is another one.. dajaal beyond description, like we are back in pharonic times but all of it with malice.. the saddest part is how these dajaleen extort massive amounts of money and prey on the ignorant and poor to do harm to other ignorant and poor .. also there should be some sort of public awareness made but folks never heed the religious shows especially in countries like Egypt again, 23 hrs of dance harajj and marjj but 5 minutes to religion if at all which everyone shuns because these 'scholars' are far removed from the public either by choice or by force.. I don't know what sort of change needs to be made but I am really for the strictest punishment possible.. let folks like that tree hugging moron with the letter above back to his trees and stop interfering with useless letter to any 'royal heinie'!
From what I understand the planned method of execution is beheading.format_quote Originally Posted by ardianto
i think i would prefer electric chair, or something quicker at least...
what exactly consitutes witchcraft and how do you get evidence? im sure there are plenty of people practising black magic but why single out this one?
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