Op-Ed: Turkish Barber In Saudi Arabia To Be Beheaded for 'Cursing God'

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

Here's the whole infuriating story. If you can stomach it.

According to the Turkish press, the barber, Sabri Bogday, had an argument with a neighbor, an Egyptian tailor, and was arrested by police after the tailor filed a complaint that he had sworn at God. Bogday has reportedly been in prison for 13 months, while his accuser has disappeared.

Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, a Riyadh-based lawyer, said rulings in such cases depend on judges’ own interpretations of the Islamic Shariah.

“Some judges consider it heresy and infidelity, and say that the accused cannot repent and so faces death penalty. Others consider the statement to be disbelief, thus allow the accused to retract what he has said and repent and then set him free,” said Al-Lahem.

Okay. So if Mr. Bogday repents, he can keep his head.

If he doesn't, he can go to Hell. Literally. Sans head.

The only thing more sickening to me than this story is thinking about how many American oil dollars built that 'court' and paid that 'judge' to ratify a beheading sentence for something we Americans do a hundred times a day.

According to the Turkish press, an appeals court is expected to look at the case within the next 10 days.

The case has attracted the attention of state leaders. Turkish President Abdullah Gul has written to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah requesting a pardon for Bogday, who moved to Jeddah from southeastern Turkey more than a decade ago. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also contacted Saudi officials on the barber’s behalf.

Also, according to the World Coalition, a global network representing groups and activists against the death penalty, immigrants are at higher risk of being convicted under Saudi Arabia's strict execution laws. According to the group's figures, out of 158 people executed in 2007, 76 were foreigners.

"Saudi Arabian justice is particularly intransigent towards foreign workers and especially those from poor countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, who represent nearly a quarter of the country's population," noted the World Coalition.

So what IS permissible in Saudi Arabia?

If you're the 'mutaween' religious police, you can beat nightgown-clad women back into a burning building and chain the doors shut to preserve their modesty, then stop the fire rescue and others from saving them.

Fifteen girls died horrible deaths in that inferno. At last check, their virtue was still intact.

The official name of the 'mutaween'? You're gonna love this:

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Speaking of virtue, if you're a jihadi just released from Gitmo back to the Holy Land, it's like winning the Super Bowl. Hero's welcome.

By the way, did you know that two sons of Saudi royal blood were members of Al Qaeda in Iraq?

Here's how the Saudis reported it:

"It was an occasion for tears and celebration as the Knights of Martyrdom proclaimed on video: “Our brother Turki fell during the rays of dawn, covered in blood after he was hit by the bullets of the infidels, following in the path of his brother.”

'The elder brother, Khaled, had been a deputy commander of a crack jihadist “special forces” unit. After his “glorious” death, Turki took his place.'

“He was deeply affected by the martyrdom of his brother,” the Knights said. “He became more ambitious and more passionate about defending the land of Islam and dying as a martyr, like his brother.”

Need I remind you fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 terrorists were Saudi?

Does anyone ever get the feeling we're fighting the wrong enemies?

Or even worse, that the enemy is us for subsidizing all this medieval barbarism and jihad?

I don't think religion is the big problem in this world.

But I'm really beginning to believe Islam doesn't qualify. Not after all I've seen coming out of Iran, Syria, Sudan and the Palestinian Territories.

And oh yeah. Saudi Arabia.

I'm starting to think that comparing Islam to religion is like comparing democracy to Nazism.

Show me ONE Islamic state that doesn't act like the Third Reich in this manner. Just ONE.

I can't say anything more without saying many things I probably shouldn't. At least not here.

Commentary would be most welcome.