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.