On the one hand, one feels sympathy for Karl Andree.
The family of a grandfather who has been sentenced to 350 lashes by the authorities in Saudi Arabia has urged the Government to intervene, amid fears the punishment would kill him.
Karl Andree, a 74-year-old cancer survivor, was jailed for 12 months after he was allegedly caught with homemade alcohol, which is illegal in the highly conservative nation.
He was arrested in the port city of Jeddah in August 2014 after police allegedly discovered bottles of hooch, The Sun reported.
I mean, Saudi Arabia is a brutal, primitive regime that operates a legal system that is incompetent and is based upon the ravings of a medieval madman. “Conservative” is blessing them with a compliment they do not deserve – barbaric, misogynistic, brutal and medieval would be closer to the truth.
But, you know, this is well known. It is why, despite several approaches in recent years, my response to people asking me to go out to that vile hell-hole has been brief and negative. Wild camels couldn’t drag me. You could not pay me enough money to risk my liberty by making a mistake and ending up on the wrong side of their laughable justice system. I’ve never been there and I know the risks involved.
Mr Andree has lived there for twenty-five years…
Maybe he’s been getting away with it for 24 years…
Isn’t realpolitik a bastard when we consider people like the Saudis our good friends?
These people are not our friends. They are a mortal enemy. The sooner our politicians realise this, the sooner we will make the world a safer place.
Theocratic nut-jobs? Yes; Medieval injustice? Yes; Authoritarian government? Yes; All well known Saudi Characteristics? Yes; Empathy? Yes. A quick release from prison without physical punishment? Hopefully.
BUT Sympathy? No. Their Gaff, their rules. Personal responsibility’s a bitch isn’t it?
Well, quite. Hence my qualification.
If only our leaders would apply “our gaff, our rules” to immigrants instead of “We’ve offended you? Please accept our apologies and tell us what we can do to make life here less offensive to you, nothing is too much for the indigenous population to endure if it makes you just a tiny tad less offended.”
I realize that “poor bugger, 350 lashes; damned savages” is all over the media, and the compassion requested by the family was on medical grounds, and I generally agree with their gaff, their rules, but….
I read (on the internet, so it must be true) that for the crime committed, he was sentenced to 12 months. That’s it; punishment of 12 months incarceration. Having now been there 14 months, he is ALSO to be given a flogging. In which case, if true, that is outrageous. How can a state punish someone, then following the end of that punishment, further deprive them of liberty and demand another, physical punishment?
But as you say – their gaff, their rules. Don’t go there.
We’re not talking about a western, liberal democracy where, more or less, there is a fair justice system (I fully accept that we are going backwards in this regard, to a very large degree thanks to Muslim immigration). What we are talking about is a fiefdom run by Islamic nut jobs who delight in torture and killing. Where’s the fun in some misguided old duffer serving his time? They also delight in sticking two fingers up to the West, knowing that twats like Obama and Cameron will still bow and scrape before them.
What Doc said.
Saudi Arabia:
Proof that Western politicians have a very different definition of “friendship” to the rest of us. Which explains much about Western politics.
After 25 years living there you’d think the daft bastard would know the rules. People shouldn’t go and live in places where they have no intention of obeying the local laws. He knew the risks and thought he was above the law because he’s a foreigner and an Englishman to boot!
An arrogant daft bastard. He’s nobody to blame but himself and I have zero sympathy for him.
Wanna bet he came back to the UK for his cancer treatment on the NHS too?