Another one of our close Arab allies are back in the news to remind us that basic freedoms are not part of our common alliance. Oman has shut down The Week newspaper after it published an article viewed as too sympathetic to homosexuality in the Gulf state. The country has a gay population but it insists that these citizens live like criminals under Islamic prohibitions of homosexuality. The Week is the largest circulation English-langauge weekly in the country.
In response to the government crackdown, the newspaper was forced to publish a full, front page apology for the story. In one repressive act, Oman was able to deny free speech, freedom of the speech, religious freedom, freedom of association, and privacy.
The action came after a member of the Shura Council, Tawfiq al-Lawati, tweeted a complaint that the article was advocating homosexuality and could be read to suggest that the country is a safe haven for gays. al-Lawati wanted to be sure that gays got the opposite message: that they are neither safe nor welcomed in Oman.
Under the laws of the Islamic government, you can be put in jail for three years for simply being gay. That is considered progressive by the standards of some of our other allies.
Gene H:
Watch an interview he gave, it is in 2 parts, he has a terrible sense of life. I dont think he was compassionate, I think he loved death; at least that is what I took away from watching the interview.
I really have mixed thoughts on physician assisted suicide.
You can kill yourself easily and painlessly with a bottle of helium, a hose, a garbage bag and a 5th of Wild Turkey and a few sleeping pills.
Gene,
Jack did what jack did because of his compassion for quality of life over quantity…. Remember the health organizations my money only when you suffer… Pharmacology as well….
Bron,
You might reconsider that statement about Kevorkian. He was all about compassion for others who were having severe quality of life issues and free will, not just helping people to whack themselves over transitory troubles. If someone is suffering, has no chance for recovery or mitigation, then it’s not only fair to allow them to end their life with dignity and by choice, it’s humane and empathetic to assist them in doing so painlessly. Some things are worse than death.