Saudis behead 53 prisoners during year

[floda]

RIYADH -- The Saudi government beheaded 52 men and one woman last year for murder, homosexuality, armed robbery and drug trafficking. But Saudis say that while Islam condones the punishment in one context, it condemns militants who decapitated hostages here and in Iraq. Islam permits the death penalty for certain crimes, but few mainstream Muslim scholars and observers believe beheadings are sanctioned by Sharia, or Islamic law.

The Saudi government says the punishment is sanctioned by Islamic tradition. State-ordered beheadings are performed in courtyards outside crowded mosques in major cities after Friday prayer services.

A condemned convict is brought into the courtyard, hands tied, and forced to bow before an executioner, who swings a huge sword amid cries from onlookers of "Allahu Akbar!" -- Arabic for "God is great."

Yesterday, outside the main mosque in this Saudi capital, a police officer standing in the scorching summer heat declared to worshippers: "There are no qisas today."

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/06/26/514773.html

[thebigidea]

1. I'd love to see Bandar Bush smirk his way through an explanation of this!

[rpannier]

2. Islamic Tradition?

Not quite the same thing as Islamic Law now is it?