Yemen displayed its version of justice with the execution of confessed child rapist Yahia al-Raghwa, 22, in a public event. Due to the graphic nature of the pictures, I have supplied a link below for those who want to see them.
al-Raghwa was a barber who admitted to the raping of a boy when he did not have enough for a haircut. He said that he thought that the boy had agreed to the exchange, but when the boy threatened to tell his father, he strangled him.
Yemen is a leader in executions. It is hard to feel sympathy for al-Raghwa. However, these public displays tend to erase the moral high ground for the state. The trial and execution were carried out in conformance with Sharia law. For the pictures, click here. What is striking about the second picture is the officer calmly speaking on his cellphone as the man is repeatedly shot.
In a slightly related story, there remains a different attitude toward the raping of little girls. In a recent report has indicated that rape remains a chronic problem in Afghanistan were families often force girls and women to marry their rapists to preserve the honor of the family — or face criminal charges for sex outside of marriage. Prior stories detailed a similar tolerance for rape displayed in Saudi Arabia (and here), and other countries.
Oh yes and the father came in and did what to him for doing that?
Much more barbaric and perhaps much more honest than our own system of capital punishement.
Last night, when viewing your article about the Obama administration’s “post acquital detention” policy, I came across an article that described the Defense Department’s statement that even after Salim Hamdan had served the 61 month sentence imposed upon him by a military jury (the govt had request 30 to life) they still claimed the power to detain him as an enemy combatant. They didn’t exercise this power, however, but released him to Yemen which released him last January after he served the remaining months of his sentence.
In other words, Yemen did what the U.S. government claimed it didn’t need to do: release Hamdan when his sentence was over rather than imposing “post acquital detention.”
In short, the fact that Yemen did what our government claimed it didn’t need to do, “tend[ed] to erase the moral high ground” of our nation. The fact that Obama is carrying on Bush administration policies regarding “enemy combatants” and others held indefinitely without trial erases it even more.