You’ve heard of the old-school hanging judge, who goes for harsh penalties and doesn’t cotton to a lot of leniency in his courtroom. Well, in Saudia Arabia, a judge in Tabuk province named Saoud bin Suleiman al-Youssef might well become known as the paralyzing judge, after he sent letters to two hospitals asking that they paralyze a criminal from the waist down via surgical procedure as punishment for a fight that left one person paralyzed. If it sounds like it’s extreme, even by Saudi Arabian standards, blame sharia law.
Sharia law, which is the law of Islam, says that claimants in court can ask for harsh, eye-for-an-eye penalties or blood money to make up for suffering. Since the attackee, Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, is paralyzed, he asked the court to make it right. Hence, paralysis for his attacker.
Man, Saudia Arabia is a terrible place for a vacation, isn’t it? Religious police walking around barking orders, can’t use your Blackberry, burning TV performers at the stake… sure they have the world’s largest clock, but what fun is it if you’re going to get beaten by police before you get to it?
Tags: justice, eye for an eye, sharia law, unusual court rulings, court, law and order, Saudi Arabia, judge orders man to be paralyzed, Saoud bin Suleiman al-Youssef, Tabuk Province, Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi
