A SAUDI judge has asked several hospitals whether they could damage a man’s spinal cord as punishment for paralysing another man in an attack.
Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralysed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than two years ago in which he was attacked with a cleaver.
He asked a judge in north-western Tabuk province to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker under Islamic law, his brother Khaled al-Mutairi said by telephone from Saudi Arabia. He said one of the hospitals, located in Tabuk, responded saying it was possible to damage the spinal cord, but the operation had to be done at a more specialised facility.
Saudi newspapers reported a second hospital in the capital, Riyadh, declined, saying it could not inflict such harm. Administrative offices of two of the hospitals and the court in Tabuk were closed for the Saudi weekend and could not be reached for comment.
Saudi Arabia enforces strict Islamic law and occasionally doles out punishments based on the ancient legal code of an eye-for-an-eye.
However, King Abdullah has been trying to clamp down on extremist ideology, including unauthorised clerics issuing odd religious decrees.
The query by the court, among the most unusual and extreme to have been made public in the kingdom, highlights the delicate attempt in Saudi Arabia to balance a push to modernise the country with interpretations of religious traditions that critics say are out of sync with a modern society.
The Saudi newspaper Okaz identified the judge as Saoud bin Suleiman al-Youssef. The brother said the judge asked at least two hospitals for a medical opinion on whether surgeons could render the attacker’s spinal cord nonfunctional. He and Saudi newspaper reports did not identify the attacker.
Khaled al-Mutairi, 27, said the assailant was sentenced to 14 months in prison for the attack that paralysed his younger brother, but he was released after seven months in an amnesty. He said the attacker then got a job as a teacher in a university.
“We are asking for our legal right under Islamic law,” the brother said. “There is no better word than God’s word – an eye for an eye.” Human rights group say trials in Saudi Arabia usually take place behind closed doors and without adequate legal representation.
Amnesty International expressed concerns over the reports and said the rights group was contacting Saudi authorities for details.
Be the first to comment