Our staunch Saudi allies are considering how to render a man paralyzed on purpose

[KamaAina]

seriesly.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/08/19/international/i072853D67.DTL

A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals in the country whether they could damage a man's spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralyzing him, the brother of the victim said Thursday.

Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralyzed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than two years ago. He asked a judge in northwestern Tabuk province to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker under Islamic law, his brother Khaled al-Mutairi told The Associated Press by telephone from there.

He said one of the hospitals, located in Tabuk, responded that it is possible to damage the spinal cord, but it added that the operation would have to be done at another more specialized facility. Saudi newspapers reported that a second hospital in the capital Riyadh declined, saying it could not inflict such harm....


The query by the court, among the most unusual and extreme to have been made public in the kingdom, highlights the delicate attempt in Saudi Arabia to balance a push to modernize the country with interpretations of religious traditions that critics say are out of sync with a modern society.

Indeed. But then again, they've got lots of oil, so it's really their business, isn't it? :sarcasm:

[LaurenG]

1. OMG

Horrific on both sides. :wow:

[damntexdem]

2. Whatever happened to simple, honest decapitation?

There, there's a traditional barbaric practice that is also guaranteed to damage the spinal cord quite high up.