Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Woman Beheaded For Practicing Witchcraft

I really thought even these guys were better than this.  I was wrong.

(CNN) -- A woman was beheaded in Saudi Arabia for practicing witchcraft and sorcery, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said, prompting Amnesty International to call for a halt in executions there.

Amina bint Abdel Halim Nassar was executed Monday for having "committed the practice of witchcraft and sorcery," according to an Interior Ministry statement. Nassar was investigated before her arrest and was "convicted of what she was accused of based on the law," the statement said. Her beheading took place in the Qariyat province of the region of Al-Jawf, the ministry said.

In a statement issued late Monday, the human rights group called the execution "deeply shocking" and said it "highlights the urgent need for a halt in executions in Saudi Arabia."

"While we don't know the details of the acts which the authorities accused Amina of committing, the charge of sorcery has often been used in Saudi Arabia to punish people, generally after unfair trials, for exercising their right to freedom of speech or religion," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's interim director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
She was supposedly selling potions for around $400 a bottle.  Due process is a joke, so any evidence could be fabricated or misplaced as they find convenient.  Regardless, a woman died and nobody is quite sure why.  Maybe all she did was show her face, or speak her mind.  We'll never know.  A search found books about sorcery and talismans, but any chance she had to explain is gone.  For all we know she collected or inherited some of those scary books.

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