......I spent 2 weeks in Jedda circa 1990. During my stay, I went to what we would call a shopping mall only this one was a thousand years old, or two thousand years ols, or whatever. It was just OLD!
Inside, their was a 20’ wide isle about 500’ long and literally hundreds of shops on each side that were very tiny and had 90% their wares outside on tables. Only the cash register was inside which was a space about the size of a small closet.
As I entered, all shops were open and well lit with their wares laid out on hundreds of tables ranging to everything manufactured in the world including some very, very expensive stuff.
There was one thing though. The entire mall was empty. There was no one, and I do mean no one there with all shops including cash registers unguarded. So, I strolled right down the middle being careful not to touch anything! When I got down to the end I finally saw someone. He looked like a Sudanese guy (Saudi Nationals rarely do lowly work), was dressed in blue work clothes and he had an old rusty long barrel .38 on his hip in a worn out holster. He was TOTALLY dis-interested in me. Looked like he did not weigh a hundred pounds.
Now, I am not in support of beheading a woman for anything, particularly when a bunch of guys rape her! But, I can name you some men I would attend a beheading for. Adam Lansa comes to mind, Jeffrey Dalmer (sp) and so on. And, I can think of some gang bangers that could use a few lashes as well. And, my Saudi host corrected me on the hand cutting off for thieves thing. That happens only on the THIRD offense! The first two times they issue jail time or lashes or both.
Bottom line: .......a normal citizen in Saudi is safe in their home and walking down the street. Crime is about zero. While I was there, a drug dealer was caught, tried, had his appeal and hung in 45 days.
So, are western societies rampant with heinous crime more civilized? I don’t think so!
Excellent points.
Many times in modern societies we confuse the appearance of leniency with its reality. As we can all see by looking around us, leniency to the criminal is aggression towards the non-criminal.
This holds true even with punishment. Take the young American who got six lashes or something like that in Singapore. So he spent a few days in hospital and then was released. And I bet he never reoffended! At least not in Singapore!
In America for a similar offense he might have gotten some months in a prison, been raped or otherwise abused, etc. But since we don’t see the horrors a young guy in prison might be subjected to, we can pretend we as a society aren’t responsible for them.
I know which I would choose, given a choice.
I too was in Jeddah ... a few years before 1990 when I was in the Navy. My ship was there for a few days.
While I agree with you that the Saudi system results in very low crime rates, the Saudi Wahhabism combined with sharia makes me suspect/question the specific incident involving the executed nanny.
I have read too many news stories in which these foreign nannies are abused, raped, tortured and sometimes murdered by their employers in Saudi Arabia.
The male head of household can act literally like a slavemaster.
Not knowing the specifics of this case, it’s hard for me to discern if this nanny actually murdered the child. However, I wonder how hard it would be for an abusive male head of household who abuses his own kids to kill one of his own kids in a fit of rage, and then blame the death on the nanny.
Being a foreigner, a woman, and possibly even an infidel, it would be the nanny’s word against her employer. The man’s word would supercede anything the nanny might have to say in defense. Rules of evidence as practiced in countries like America have little or no meaning in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Wahhabi court finds her guilty according to the tenets of Islam, and the executioner takes the nanny’s head. Allah be praised. (sarc)
There really is a war on women ... it’s just not happening here in America.
My elder brother lived in Saudi only recently. He was in Riyadh, in an American compound. The place was constantly broken into by local Saudis (even with guards at the entrance). In one burglary, the local police actually were able to retrieve his stuff and the stuff of his neighbors. The perpetrators were a gang of Saudi youths. The police simply shrugged their shoulders. To them, it was no big deal. Now, if a foreigner had stolen, then all hell would break loose. But if your thief is a Saudi, and male, (preferably of “royal” blood), who cares?