January 19, 2010
Jubail- A Saudi Arabian court sentenced a 13-year old school girl to 90 lashes inside her school and two months prison term, Saudi daily AlWatan reported Wednesday.
AlWatan said a court in Jubail city, east, sentenced the girl following her assault of the school principal last year after she was discovered to have concealed a cell phone equipped with a camera. Saudi regulations ban the use of camera-equipped cell phones inside girl schools.
The paper, said the girl will be flogged, inside the school in front of her classmates.
Saudi Arabia, the leading US Arab ally is an absolute monarchy controlled by the Al-Saud ruling tribe, and lacks any legal code. The Saudi court system is exclusively controlled Wahahbi/Salafi clerics, and bans the employment of non-Salafi citizens in any capacity, especially judges.
Saudi Arabia is the leading country in the world in the use of torture-by-flogging, public beheadings and publically crucifying condemned prisoners. Riyadh crucified two people in 2009, including one in the capitol during President Barak Obama’s visit.
US officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have repeatedly praised Saudi King Abdullah purported reforms, and shied away from criticizing the desert kingdom’s poor record of human rights.
American Ambassador in Riyadh Censors Human Rights Reporting
In a related matter, SIA has also learned from human rights activists in Riyadh that current US ambassador to Riyadh James Smith has ordered the censoring of human rights reports prepared inside the embassy for State Department’s annual human rights and religious freedom reports. |
