Tomorrow in Saudi Arabia they are going to behead a Lebanese TV host and father of five for the crime of "sorcery." On Friday, April 2, Ali Sibat will be no longer, his head decapitated, his body dead.
The Lebanese father was sentenced to death last year for making predictions on a TV show from his home in Beirut and was arrested in Saudi Arabia while on pilgrimage in Mecca.
Saudi Arabia is an American top ally in the Middle East. This beheading will be "one of the most outrageous punishments against a man who isn't even a citizen of that country," reports CNN Anchor Hala Gorani at The Idesk.
Human Rights groups, including Amnesty International are trying to "raise the profile of this case because bad publicity seems to be the only thing that gets the attention of authorities," she reports.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has called on the Saudi government to overturn Sibat's death sentence and to halt "its increasing use of charges of 'witchcraft,' crimes that are vaguely defined and arbitrarily used."
Another case in 2006 was that of a mentally-disabled Saudi woman, Fawza Falih, who was sentenced to death by beheading for the alleged crimes of "witchcraft, recourse to jinn (supernatural beings)" and animal sacrifice. Somehow, a man with erectile dysfunction blamed his condition on Falih's witchcraft. You can read Ethic Soup's post on this here.
This is one of those times for silent prayers for Ali Sibat, Fawza Falih and all those, who have been or will be, beheaded in Saudi Arabia, if you're so inclined.
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by Sharon McEachern
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