It’s only seven days into King Abdullah’s reign, but if things like this become the norm, then his reign bodes well not only for Saudi, but for the whole region:
“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has issued an order to pardon and release the following prisoners: Abdullah Al-Hamid, Matrouk Al-Faleh, Ali Al-Damini and Saeed ibn Zaeer, who are serving jail sentences, as well as Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, whose case is still in the court,� Interior Minister Prince Naif said, and praised the king’s kind gesture.
Arab News
Hat tip Crossroads Arabia
Comments
Saudi reforms gather pace
Oh. “Wrongly imprisoned.” That explains it.
“So how did you go off at criminals being wrongly released?”
I was thinking about how Bahrain deals with its criminals.
-ES
Saudi reforms gather pace
[quote]I was thinking about how Bahrain deals with its criminals[/quote]
Why don’t you enlighten us more?! I mean I still don’t see the connection here!
Maybe It’s been a long day for me to, oh wait it’s only dawn, huh!
P.B.
Saudi reforms gather pace
I thought these prisoners weren’t “wrongfully” imrprisoned. I thought the King was thinking, “Hey, I should probably set these guys free, because I really don’t want this to lead to more problems! And I sure as hell don’t want their friends and family to rebel against the government!”, and that usually happens in Bahrain.
[quote]I mean I still don’t see the connection here![/quote]
That’s because there is no connection. I misunderstood. It happens.
-ES
Saudi reforms gather pace
As you might expect, I’m not impressed. Abdullah [b]pardoned[/b] them for the [b]crime[/b] of suggesting the KSA adopt democracy and become a constitutional monarchy. That means that such activity remains a crime but the King forgives him, not that it was evil for the KSA to make such activity a crime. And the King pardoned him on his own whim, not through a review of the case by an institution with public laws legislated through a public elected body. So justice rests on the fickle whims of the rulers. This is not reform, just a publicity stunt.
And note who the Saudis lock up and who they don’t. The Saudis hunt down and lock up a guy who is calling for democracy. By contrast, when Islamic psychopaths butchered ten foreigners in Khobar in May 2004, the blood-soaked killers walked right through the police cordon to freedom. Those are police commanded by the evil Prince Nayef who is uttering these honeyed words about the King’s good will. What a dramatic illustration of the KSA’s values.
And of course, Nayef is the one who still claims that Saudis did not perpetrate the Sep 11 atrocities, but Zionists. Abdullah agrees.
The KSA is not reformable. The Saudi princes care nothing for the people nor their country, only for their own pleasure and power. They must be extirpated, along with the Wahhabis, from control of the Arabian peninsula and sent back into the desert from whence they slithered.
Steve
Saudi reforms gather pace
First of all, ES,these are all political prisoners, as in “Thought Criminals”, so it would be really difficult to say that they pose a dange to society in general, at least not to person and property. Not to take away from you extremely valid point of criminals who are “wrongly released”, as in, before their debt to society for violence or damage fo property is fullr repaid or they have been properly rehabilitated, but political opposition isn’t a crime in most people’s books.
Secondly, didn’t King Hamad grant amnesty when he took the throne? This seems to be the MO for any new regent, show “mercy”, and then project power later when they get out of line. It’s give with one hand and take with the other, quintessential desert politics!
Saudi reforms gather pace
I kind of agree with steve; but still have to give credit where credit is due. Good form, king abdulla. Now finish up the good job and listen to what the imprisoned gentlemen suggested.
On a different note, Mr. Aldomaini is a very strong, rightious man. I will try to find something about him so we can get to know about him more.
Saudi reforms gather pace
“political opposition isn’t a crime in most people’s books.”
Yeah, but like I stated earlier, I wasn’t actually talking about what Mahmood was talking about. Slight confusion. I was talking about the actual criminals who are pardoned for no apparent reason.
-ES
Saudi reforms gather pace
Being homicidal is not at all dangerous here. Well, it’s dangerous for others, but not myself.
I can deal with my nutty anger by killing a bunch of innocent people. If I do get away with it, which is very likely seeing as they don’t have the technology required to find me, that’s great. But if they do find me and I do have to face a short sentence, I’m not at all worried, because they’ll set me free the next Eid out of kindness anyways and I can repeat the vicious cycle allll over again.
I love how sympathetic our leaders are sometimes. Setting criminals free. That’s not damaging or threatening at all, no.
Actually, I wouldn’t mind them doing that if the so-called ‘crimes’ are insignificant, so it would have helped if they told us why these people were locked up in the first place.
-ES
Re: Saudi reforms gather pace
I’m sorry I don’t exactly follow your line of thought here. We’re talking about 3 reformists and their lawyer who have been wrongly imprisoned and now released. So how did you go off at criminals being wrongly released? It’s been a long hard day so far, so maybe I’m just missing something…
Saudi reforms gather pace
Credit to King A. on this one.
Talk about a challenging job, running S.A., and trying to control his own family – wonder which is tougher.
An elderly gentleman with limited time, and a deep desire to use it well, gains power at a critical time.
Saudi reforms gather pace
If by ‘gather pace’ we mean ‘move a half inch
Saudi reforms gather pace
And who locked them up in the first place? Now the King is supposed to be looked at as progressive, because he finally let them go? Any idea what these gentlemen experienced while they were guests of the king?
What a bizzare world….it could only be stranger if the king used the occasion for a photo op with the greatful prisoners.
Re: Saudi reforms gather pace
Maybe they can get a group shot with the Westerner’s he pardoned after sentencing them to death for bombing themselves. After a bit of bastinado, they realized they, not Al Qaeda, had tried to murder themselves and were willing to confess to it all on TV. Perhaps they should thank the King for not executing them.
Steve