Saudi Arabia beheads Sudanese man by sword for practicing "Sorcery"

bigpondnews.com...

Saudi Arabia beheaded a Sudanese man by sword in the western city of Medina on Monday after he was convicted of practicing sorcery.

Abdul Hamid al-Fakki "practiced witchcraft and sorcery," which are illegal under Saudi Arabia's Islamic sharia law, said a ministry statement carried by state news agency SPA.

Sorcery? Is this really actually...real? I decided to do a quick search and found this article with more info about him being arrested.

www.amnesty.org...

Abdul Hamid Bin Hussain Bin Moustafa al-Fakki, who is aged about 36, was arrested on 8 December 2005 in the city of Madina by the Mutawa’eenreligious police, officially called the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV). He was accused of practising sorcery, after being entrapped by the CPVPV. A man working for the CPVPV approached ‘Abdul Hamid and asked him to produce a spell that would lead to the man’s father separating from his second wife and returning to his first wife, the man’s mother. ‘Abdul Hamid apparently accepted to do this in exchange for 6,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (approximately US$1,600).

He apparently took an advance of 2,000 riyals from the man, together with the names of his father and the father’s second wife, as well as the names of their mothers, and agreed to meet the man afterwards to deliver his work. He went to the agreed meeting place and was seen by CPVPV agents getting into the man’s car. He delivered his work, consisting of nine pieces of paper with codes written on them with saffron, and received the rest of the money. He was then arrested while in possession of bank notes whose serial numbers had been recorded by the CPVPV.

He was questioned and apparently beaten, and is believed to have confessed that he did carry out acts of sorcery in a bid to solve the family problems of the man who had approached him.

I dont think Ive ever seen something like this in the news. I thought stuff like this was a thing of the past, like in the Dark Ages, but I was wrong. This is just one of those news stories where im just....befuddled. Maybe I just dont understand some Middle Eastern laws that well

ETA - Ive always thought of Saudi Arabia as one of the most modern nations in the ME.

Well, that's one less Sorcerer casting magic missile on Planet Earth! Glad to know people are being beheaded for practicing nonsense that has no valid scientific evidence that it exists other then the fact people believe in it.

That's religion for you. I'm going to try to cast magic missile at the darkness.

"Sorcery"? really? In America we just call what he did scamming. If only someone could behead some of our modern american "sorcerers" (John Edwards and other scamming assholes). I don't really get this. It's definitely entrapment, and seems pointless. Let's wave cash in this mans face and then get him to do a "evil" deed, then behead him in public.... Were they just looking for a reason to flex their muscles?

Islamic sharia law, so much for a peaceful religion. And there are people pushing for sharia law in the United States.
I think I'll stick with our current laws, even if flawed.

The key to your post is in your last comment regarding SA being more, I think the word you used was "modern". Yes, they are at around 690AD, while the rest of the region is sitting around 630AD. Not really much difference relative to civilized society; they are all barbarians. They are only relevant because of their oil.

Edit- Let me clarify my statement- Anybody who believes that sharia law should be enacted against a population is a barbarian. Anybody who believes that a woman has no rights and should wear a tent in public is a barbarian. etc.

Another enlightened being whose life has been stolen for the sake of organized religion.

IMO - A society which lives by old and archaic systems will stand a much better chance than a modern society when SHTF and most of Earth's civilization is wiped out in some sort of geological/cosmic event.

Women's Rights will be the least of your problems when you are fighting gangs to access clean water and energy sources in a Post-Apocalyptic existence

Death is an effective way to eliminate undesirable human behavior, and progress our gene pool's quality.

Mate

Flash buildings and flash cars don't equal modernity, in a material sense they do but that's it.

I lived there for quite a number of years and I can tell you the Al-Hijri calendar is currently at 1432 and they really are still there.

Remember the Saudi Price who went up in the Space Shuttle, that happened not because they could afford it but to confirm that the earth is in-fact round.

Cheers

Originally posted by buni11687
ETA - Ive always thought of Saudi Arabia as one of the most modern nations in the ME.

Hahahah....what? Most modern? I think you have it backwards. It's one of the LEAST modern.

Just that it is perhaps a bit richer than some of the others.