Guest Author - Aisling Ireland

A man becomes impotent. An illiterate woman is read a statement. She agrees with the statement and shows that she agrees with the written statement by "signing" the statement with her thumb print. The woman is sentenced to death by beheading.

What is going on?

What is going on is that a Saudi Arabian who became impotence decided that a woman, Fawza Falih, was responsible for his impotence. How? By using witchcraft to cause his condition. After his accusation, Falih was arrested and interrogated After her interrogation, some one appeared and read to Falih, a statement, which Falih, because she is illiterate, had no idea was actually a confession of witchcraft. After confessing to a being a witch, Fawza Falih was sentenced to death by beheading, the standard punishment for Saudi witches.

What makes this case particularly important, outside the obvious, is that it draws attention to the fact that Saudi Arabia's penal code. Or rather, its lack thereof. There is not written penal code in Saudi Arabia, meaning that there is no standard list of rights or codes of conduct that officials are obligated to follow. In 2002 a written law was established that was meant to guarantee accused person the right to a lawyer, but that law seems to have failed Fawza Falih.

Fawza Falih's death sentence was overturned once, but then reinstated. Petitions have been circulated via the net, appeals made on Fawza Falih's behalf, but she remains under threat of death. Please do not allow Fawza Falih's case to get lost or forgotten. Please continue to support Fawza Falih and let the Saudi government know that she remains in our hearts, prayers, and consciousness. Go to the following site and petition King Abdullah to stop this miscarriage of justice and violation of a woman's human rights:

http://www.petitiononline.com/AIDFAWZA/petition.html

*~Aisling Ireland~* is long time human rights activist, a member of Amnesty International, a One Campaign supporter, writer, and an ordained Spiritual Counselor.

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