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NDlurker 2 hours ago [-]
Religious extremism is a mental illness and has no place in government.
>Saudi Arabia is among the world's most prolific executioners. According to Amnesty, at least 175 people had been executed in the kingdom this year as of 5 October, most of them foreign nationals, including at least 94 people from more than 20 countries. It has no written penal code, leaving many offences and punishments to judges' interpretation of Sharia, and broad provisions in its counter-terrorism and cybercrime laws have been used to impose long sentences for social media posts.
This should be widely publicized. No foreigner is safe.
Incipient 29 minutes ago [-]
A few things I'd challenge here:
- the US believes religion doesn't belong in government, a lot of the rest of the world does.
-I don't believe in executing people for what they say, however I do also believe in a countries right to self govern, but I also believe other countries should condemn certain behaviour - it's a fine line with, and a fuzzy one.
- I also believe in 'when in rome'. Eg I was a Catholic in Morocco, and you can bet your boots I didn't go anywhere near their (fairly impressive!) mosques (as I didn't have a good understanding of their requirements, and I wasn't around long enough to have the time to learn).
vconnor 6 minutes ago [-]
> the US believes religion doesn't belong in government, a lot of the rest of the world does.
Wait, did I step in a different timeline, one where there is not a major cultural battlefield in the US that’s centered around religion?
You might want to see your country from outside of its borders to have a more objective perspective on the matter. The US is on its way to becoming a Christian fundamentalist country in ways we haven’t seen since the middle ages in Europe, for example.
I guess it’s to be expected as all the religious weirdos fled Europe for the Americas, and they hold still a lot of power. I mean, you have “In God we trust” in your banknotes. Not very secular of you.
bestouff 26 minutes ago [-]
It's a joke. In the US you have to put your hand on a Bible or equivalent when testifying in court.
France is a country where religion is separated from government.
Saudi Arabia executed 356 people last year. Apparently a record.
Iraq, China, Egypt, Somalia... The list goes on. And unfortunately the USA is also on that wall of shame (47 in 2025).
The world is not in a great shape.
EDIT: In many Muslim countries blasphemy and apostasy are punishable by death. Not all of them enforce it though but it's still in the books.
newyankee 2 hours ago [-]
Based on original reading of the story though the man's comments were reported to Saudi Arabia by his fellow countrymen. Also Blasphemy law exists in many other Islamic countries like Pakistan etc.
NDlurker 2 hours ago [-]
Yeah, that's all disgusting human behavior. And it's even more disgusting that agents of the Saudi government will murder him over it.
gib444 51 minutes ago [-]
> Also Blasphemy law exists in many other Islamic countries like Pakistan etc.
England and Wales isn't far off, some might claim. The blasphemy law was repealed only in 2008 but at the same time replaced with something not so severe, which got tested recently by a man burning convicted for burning a Quran, which got overturned on a high court appeal.
Not to mention the whole raft of hate/offence/communication crimes that can be used in a similar manner:
I know balance must exist, especially when it approaches physical violence, but we must have an absolute right to discuss intolerance and violence and misogyny no matter what book it's in.
throw93739393 1 hours ago [-]
There was a man who spread bacon on mosque door handle. He was sentenced to high security prison full of radical muslims. Latter he was killed in prison.
This was in european nation!
Symbiote 55 minutes ago [-]
He killed himself.
(I think it's off topic to discuss this, but I didn't like your misinformation.)
> Crehan was returned to C wing at Horfield on Boxing Day without adequate health screening, without adequate communication from healthcare staff to prison guards
I just wish UK would punish dog attacks with the same vigour! Unleashing your dog on muslim is a brutal racial hate assault!
Biganon 55 minutes ago [-]
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aprilthird2021 1 hours ago [-]
They are allies with the world bully whom no one can oppose. Nothing will change there as a result
Athanase000 10 minutes ago [-]
Here are my thoughts.
1. Don't commit crimes. If saying or writing a given phrase is a crime in the country you reside in, don't say it and don't write it. This poor man was apparently aware of this, given he deleted his comments a few minutes after writing it. Unfortunately, too late: in the meantime, some extremists had the time to screenshot his comment and send them to his employer.
2. Related, how did Saudi Arabia attorney establish that the comment was authentic? Nothing could be easier than doctoring a screenshot. Did they get Facebook to cooperate and confirm this comment was indeed posted by this man? The articles don't mention this.
3. I hope Sri Lanka and other countries will put pressure on Saudi Arabia to get this man a pardon.
4. It would be very easy for Facebook to implement automated censorship of comments that would cause their author to be killed, imprisoned, or fined. This is obviously censorship, but useful censorship. With Jev or similar models you could do it for a few hundreds of cents per comment, if that, and no doubt Facebook could do it for even cheaper.
infinite_spin 1 hours ago [-]
When I search google, using his name, the AI generated content at the top works.. if I ask what comment he left, suddenly the AI generated content stops working.
zaik 3 hours ago [-]
This is of course wrong, no matter what the comment was, but it is strange that the article does not say what the comment was.
Animats 3 hours ago [-]
If someone published the comment, they'd be dodging assassination attempts, like Salman Rushdie [1] and the staff of Charlie Hebdo.[2]
That’s… Rushdie was targeted by Iranian leadership and Hebdo was committed by Algerian Al Qaeda members. Neither have a whole lot to do with Saudi Arabia.
Maybe you’re thinking of Kashoggi?
newyankee 2 hours ago [-]
It is not being a target of a state, but rather the target of a group of people who take blasphemy very seriously
EA-3167 2 hours ago [-]
In the case of Iran it’s literally the same thing.
boxed 1 hours ago [-]
And so many more Islamic countries.
JdeBP 3 hours ago [-]
If you want a better source for Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, look for a newspaper that is a lot closer to them than the U.S. version of the Daily Mirror is. Even the U.K. version of the Daily Mirror would not be a good source for this sort of thing.
On 7 October, Amnesty International called on Saudi Arabia to quash the sentence and release him immediately and unconditionally.
"No one should be imprisoned, let alone face execution simply for expressing their views, even if these are deemed insulting or offensive," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
3 hours ago [-]
mips_avatar 1 hours ago [-]
It was apparently something derogatory about the profit Muhammad according to other reporting. Though I guess news outlets are skeptical to mention the profit Muhammad.
rramadass 3 hours ago [-]
Intolerant Saudi Arabia and its inhuman treatment of non-muslims. Why the world puts up with it is beyond me.
The problem was a trivial one; there was a dog in a non-muslim religious procession which was wantonly kicked by a muslim man. As any normal empathetic human would, this person wrote a facebook post condemning it in somewhat strong terms which may have had some religious flavour which he later deleted and apologized for.
The above is what is being tried under blasphemous laws by the Saudis. Where is the outrage from the international media, human rights organizations and the larger world?
We are living in the 21st century, for goodness' sake!
drivebyhooting 1 hours ago [-]
They put up with it because of oil. Isn’t that obvious?
aliasxneo 1 hours ago [-]
People have been outraged by Sharia Law for centuries.
za3faran 1 hours ago [-]
Shariah prohibits dealing inhumanely with animals.
aprilthird2021 1 hours ago [-]
The Western world puts up with it because they don't care. The only thing they care about is money and power. Both of which Saudi can help them with
Yevini 2 hours ago [-]
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964279964377 50 minutes ago [-]
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OutOfHere 2 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
aprilthird2021 1 hours ago [-]
What governments? The US? Come on that's their bestest pal. Trump literally defended the current dictator of Saudi after he bonesawed that journalist and said the guy deserved it
jazzyjackson 1 hours ago [-]
It’s weird that Trump bought a yacht from Kashogi’s dad, huh
>Saudi Arabia is among the world's most prolific executioners. According to Amnesty, at least 175 people had been executed in the kingdom this year as of 5 October, most of them foreign nationals, including at least 94 people from more than 20 countries. It has no written penal code, leaving many offences and punishments to judges' interpretation of Sharia, and broad provisions in its counter-terrorism and cybercrime laws have been used to impose long sentences for social media posts.
This should be widely publicized. No foreigner is safe.
- the US believes religion doesn't belong in government, a lot of the rest of the world does.
-I don't believe in executing people for what they say, however I do also believe in a countries right to self govern, but I also believe other countries should condemn certain behaviour - it's a fine line with, and a fuzzy one.
- I also believe in 'when in rome'. Eg I was a Catholic in Morocco, and you can bet your boots I didn't go anywhere near their (fairly impressive!) mosques (as I didn't have a good understanding of their requirements, and I wasn't around long enough to have the time to learn).
Wait, did I step in a different timeline, one where there is not a major cultural battlefield in the US that’s centered around religion?
You might want to see your country from outside of its borders to have a more objective perspective on the matter. The US is on its way to becoming a Christian fundamentalist country in ways we haven’t seen since the middle ages in Europe, for example.
I guess it’s to be expected as all the religious weirdos fled Europe for the Americas, and they hold still a lot of power. I mean, you have “In God we trust” in your banknotes. Not very secular of you.
France is a country where religion is separated from government.
Saudi Arabia executed 356 people last year. Apparently a record.
Iraq, China, Egypt, Somalia... The list goes on. And unfortunately the USA is also on that wall of shame (47 in 2025).
The world is not in a great shape.
EDIT: In many Muslim countries blasphemy and apostasy are punishable by death. Not all of them enforce it though but it's still in the books.
England and Wales isn't far off, some might claim. The blasphemy law was repealed only in 2008 but at the same time replaced with something not so severe, which got tested recently by a man burning convicted for burning a Quran, which got overturned on a high court appeal.
Not to mention the whole raft of hate/offence/communication crimes that can be used in a similar manner:
https://freespeechunion.org/fundraisers/blasphemy-fundraiser
I know balance must exist, especially when it approaches physical violence, but we must have an absolute right to discuss intolerance and violence and misogyny no matter what book it's in.
This was in european nation!
(I think it's off topic to discuss this, but I didn't like your misinformation.)
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/kevin-crehan...
> Crehan was returned to C wing at Horfield on Boxing Day without adequate health screening, without adequate communication from healthcare staff to prison guards
I just wish UK would punish dog attacks with the same vigour! Unleashing your dog on muslim is a brutal racial hate assault!
2. Related, how did Saudi Arabia attorney establish that the comment was authentic? Nothing could be easier than doctoring a screenshot. Did they get Facebook to cooperate and confirm this comment was indeed posted by this man? The articles don't mention this.
3. I hope Sri Lanka and other countries will put pressure on Saudi Arabia to get this man a pardon.
4. It would be very easy for Facebook to implement automated censorship of comments that would cause their author to be killed, imprisoned, or fined. This is obviously censorship, but useful censorship. With Jev or similar models you could do it for a few hundreds of cents per comment, if that, and no doubt Facebook could do it for even cheaper.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting
Maybe you’re thinking of Kashoggi?
* https://tamilguardian.com/content/explainer-sivarasa-anojan-...
"No one should be imprisoned, let alone face execution simply for expressing their views, even if these are deemed insulting or offensive," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The problem was a trivial one; there was a dog in a non-muslim religious procession which was wantonly kicked by a muslim man. As any normal empathetic human would, this person wrote a facebook post condemning it in somewhat strong terms which may have had some religious flavour which he later deleted and apologized for.
The above is what is being tried under blasphemous laws by the Saudis. Where is the outrage from the international media, human rights organizations and the larger world?
We are living in the 21st century, for goodness' sake!