Sick 74-Year-Old Brit Faces 350 Lashes For Possessing Homemade Wine In Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is about to add another victim to its adherence to the medieval Sharia law system imposed by the Kingdom. Karl Andree, 74, is a sick asthmatic Englishman who has survived three periods of cancer treatment. He has already been held in prison for a year but will now face 350 lashes . . . for having homemade wine. He has been held for a year despite that fact that his wife Verity is dying of Alzheimer’s — all under the Kingdom’s insistence on carrying out the tenets of Islamic morality codes.

Andree is the grandfather of seven and lived in Saudi Arabia for 25 years while working in the oil industry. One could certainly accept that Saudi Arabia has a right to impose jail after Andree was arrested in Jeddah with bottles of home-made wine in his car. However, he was sentenced not just to 12 months in jail and flogging.

The flogging of this elderly sick man is a disgrace and the very essence of immorality. While the United States (correctly) denounces ISIS and Iran for their cruel application of Islamic law, it is important to note that our closest allies continue to impose similar punishments that shock the conscience.