Saudi court orders flogging in country to be commuted to imprisonment, fine or both
Riyadh … News Time
Saudi Arabia has ordered the abolition of flogging for various crimes. According to news agencies, a Saudi court has ruled that flogging in the country will be commuted to imprisonment, fines or both. According to a Saudi court document, the move was made at the behest of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The reform is being carried out under the direct supervision of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. The decision was cited as an extension of human rights reforms, introduced under the direction of King Salman and under the direct supervision of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It should be noted that in Saudi Arabia, many crimes are flogged and judges punish the perpetrators according to Islamic teachings. Human rights groups have filed cases in the past in which Saudi judges have flogged perpetrators of a number of crimes, including harassment and public drug use. Awwad Al-Awwad, head of the state-backed Human Rights Commission (HRC), told Reuters the reform was a “memorable step” on Saudi Arabia’s human rights agenda and one of several recent reforms in the kingdom. There is one.
Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, says this is a welcome change, but it should have happened many years ago. He said there were no longer any obstacles in Saudi Arabia’s way to reform its unfair judicial system. The last flogging sentence in Saudi Arabia made headlines in 2015, when a blogger, Raif Badawi, was publicly flogged for cybercrime and blasphemy. According to the sentence, he was to be given a thousand lashes during the weekly flogging, but due to international outrage and his condition deteriorating during the flogging sentence, the full execution of his sentence had to be stopped.
Sebastian Osher, an expert on Arab affairs, lamented the Islamic punishment, saying that the whipping had indeed painted a negative image of Saudi Arabia on the world stage, but that the action now suggests that the punishment will be completely eliminated. In Saudi Arabia, flogging was punishable by a variety of crimes, while other corporal punishments, including amputation of the hand for theft, the death penalty or murder, and beheading for terrorism. No decision has been made regarding
