Saudi Arabia: Appeal and Your Sentence is Doubled up!!
Saudi Arabia has sentenced Egyptian doctor Raouf Amin to seven years in prison and 1,500 lashes. What for? For allegedly administering addictive drugs to a Saudi Princess during a medical treatment in the course of his duties at a Saudi hospital. Dr. Raouf has reportedly denied the charges that he was responsible for the “princess” getting addicted to sedatives.
Dr. Amin's wife tells us the story in the Doctors without Rights blog:
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In his first trial Dr. Raouf Amin was sentenced to three years in prison and 700 lashes..however after his appeal, the sentence was doubled up; he will be whipped at the rate of 10-15 lashes a week during a 15-year jail sentence. The verdict was condemned not only by the human rights associations and civil entities, but also the ministry of interiors and the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate; Head of Doctors Syndicate Dr. Hamdy El Sayed stated to the AFP:
“We condemn this verdict in the strongest terms and we are making contact with officials in Cairo and Saudi Arabia, as well as [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak for them to intervene,” El-Sayyed told AFP.
“He did not have a fair trial; there was not even any adequate medical expert opinion. … This judgment is more about torture than justice and does not correspond with any kind of law, human rights or even Sharia (Islamic law)”
It would have been better to have sentenced him to death than to torture him this way. One thousand five hundred lashings and 15 years in prison is too harsh even for a murderer.”
Needless to mention that the Egyptian public opinion cannot comprehend it. Caricature artist Ashraf Hamdy angrily wonders:
أين منظمات حقوق الانسان ؟
أين وزير الصحة ؟”
Where are the Human Rights Organizations?
Where is the Minister of Health?”
8 comments
My God!!!! Saudis loath all the other countries for not have the Islamic law as the country law… and they themselves are abusing it to the fullest!!!!!
I cannot believe this! Why nobody is moving?!
In reply to Mermaid, nobody is moving because nobody wants to upset big oil suppliers. As to the sentence, allegedly 100 lashes is the maximum permitted by Sharia Law. IMHO 1500 lashes is a death sentence with torture. What surprises me is the naivety of the doctor as it is well known that visitors to Saudi Arabia have been thrown in jail for possessing codeine tablets prescribed by their own doctor in the UK. Allegedly one can even be jailed for having traces of codeine in ones blood or urine. Simple solution DON’T GO TO SAUDI ARABIA, never ever!
YES, if they are claiming that they rule according to the Islamic laws (sharee’a), and then they multiply the sentences whimsically (3ala mazag-hom), then, YES, DON’T GO TO SAIDO ARABIA!
I’ve worked with colleagues who have done contract employment in Saudi Arabia. Its a bad place. Allegedly if a westerner is in a taxi that is crashed into by an arabs car the accident is deemed to be the westerners fault! (this is because the taxi would not have been there if the westerner had not hired it). Allegedly the smart move in such a case is to pay the taxi driver his fare and leg it before the police arrive!
Libya is (was) also bad as a colleague had a head-on smash with a Libyans car that was travelling the wrong way down a one way street in Tripoli. The police would not allow photos to be taken until the positions of the two cars had been transposed by the breakdown truck! “You may take photographs now” said the police. Phew – they do say that travel broadens the mind.
You made me more and more thankful I am still in Egypt and travelled any where! Why some governments are THAT narrow-minded and unfair?!!!! EIH DAH BEGAAAD?!!!!
I still wonder : who made the accusations &/or reporting him in the first place.It can’t be that prince , right ? Was it “that Saudi Doctor who was caught with sedative injections and tablets who claimed that he gives those sedatives to Raouf.”? That was the first point ? & what happened to that Saudi doctor ?!!! From my own experience, Saudi Arabia is a nice country to live in ( except for bizzare restrictions that makes you feel u r in a different world in a different life time !!! ) I dealt with nice civilized educated Saudis – really.
Still wonder why so many are so arrogant ? coz they r rich ? They never thought who found the oil & keep digging for it for them ? How come they give the credit to themselves !!!!! I guess they should start educate themselves & find another reason to be proud for insead of money !!