Saudi Man's 'Gay' Tweets Earn 450 Lashes, Jail Time

[William769]

A reportedly gay 24-year-old man in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 450 lashes and three years in jail after that country's so-called religious police set up an undercover operation and arrested him for tweeting allegedly "immoral" photos and allegedly admitting to using Twitter to connect with other gay men, reports Gulf News.

The man's sentence for the crime of "promoting debauchery" came from a court in the Saudi city of Manama, and was for "promoting homosexual contact." The 450 lashes are prescribed for issuance during 15 separate sessions. Penalties in Saudi Arabia for homosexuality include life in prison and even the death penalty.

"This sentence is a horrific reminder of the dangers LGBT people face in Saudi Arabia and the dozens of nations around the world where it's a crime to simply be who you are," said Jason Rahlan, global press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign in a statement.

http://www.advocate.com/world/2014/07/24/saudi-mans-gay-tweets-earn-450-lashes-jail-time

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Good Grief!

Just for being gay.

[William769]

2. And all they got him with is Tweeting!

[Zarwan]

30. More testimony on Saudi entrapment of LGBT people

Here is a personal testimony about how Saudi religious police entrap gay and trans people over the Internet, from December 2013. http://paper-bird.net/2013/12/19/jeddah-prison-cell-18-entrapped-in-saudi-arabia/

[RKP5637]

3. Often I think there heeds to be a global incarceration with lost keys for critters that would do

this to a human being, or to anything.

[stevenleser]

4. Horrible. No one can survive 450 lashes. It will kill anyone. What a cruel punishment.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. It is over 15 sessions...

regardless, it is barbaric.

[CBGLuthier]

21. Yeah they have been doing this shit for so long they know how to be really careful

sick fucking barbarians that they are.

[awoke_in_2003]

27. Yep...

wouldn't want the person to die and not get the full suffering. They are a bunch of barbarians.

[geek tragedy]

5. Saudi government issues this statement

to critics: "Oil , motherfuckers, oil."

Repulsive.

[William769]

6. Sickening.

[awoke_in_2003]

10. same reason nothing will happen to Russia. nt

[closeupready]

16. Part of why I'm glad we've overtaken them in oil production.

Not happy about the carbon emissions this will lead to, but if we have to have it, then I'm glad we've undercut their global importance in terms of energy.

[iandhr]

7. And this country is on the UN Human Rights Council.

Ponder that.

[stevenleser]

8. And they are trying to lecture/investigate other people.

[KamaAina]

12. And they're our staunch allies.

Ponder that.

[iandhr]

13. indeed

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

15. "Saudia Arabia: Our Partners in Peace"

[joeybee12]

11. Phuckers...knr

[MoonRiver]

14. Evil bastards!

[Marrah_G]

17. Horrifying- absolutely horrifying

[dbackjon]

18. And we are defending them with our troops why?

Fuck the Saudis and their bigotry.

[Dopers_Greed]

19. Sounds like a paradise for the tea-liban

[MohRokTah]

20. Saudi Arabia is the true enemy of the United States.

It produced 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers.

[Aerows]

22. There is some true sickness in this world

How in the hell can anybody stand 450 lashes, and over a freaking TWEET? Good Lord have mercy on this poor young man's soul. Anybody can open a damn Twitter account and claim they are anyone on earth.

Shit, you can send email from a command line (DOS or Linux console - easy as pie) and claim you are Batman (I've done it for fun, before). How easy do you honestly think sending a tweet from somebody else's account!?

[sheshe2]

23. This is horrifying, William.

The sentence, even if the lashes are over 15 sessions that's still 30 lashes over the course of 3 years! How the hell does someone survive that?

[William769]

24. I know it's barbaric.

But it's like this in most middle eastern Countries. Add the hangings, stoneings, the list just goes on & on.

[cpwm17]

25. The US Government sure knows how to pick its allies

[TBF]

26. One of the USA's closest allies -

what is that saying about being known by the company you keep.

That country is barbaric. So, in fact, is this one in many ways.

[dickthegrouch]

28. F'ing Barbarians

And F'ing hypocrites too.
I visited Saudi Arabia for two weeks in 1980 and was 'privileged' to see the smuggled goods warehouse in Riyadh airport. I have never seen so much alcohol in one place before or since.

IMHO all this supposed hatred of gays is really fear that, just because they enjoyed 'experimenting' with a same-sex pal when they were young, they might not be a straight as they think. Ignorance of the Kinsey scale of sexuality is the real problem here. Allowing everyone the freedom to live their lives their way as long as it doesn't harm others is the ideal. Why is it so difficult to achieve?

[Cha]

29. Damn.. that's so unbearably sad.. the way it is in some of these countries where the people

are totally devoid of humanity.

[Puzzledtraveller]

31. Hamas would do the same no?

Wait, they would just take him out back and shoot him.