One of the key US allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, like the Islamic State, lives by Sharia law. Persecution of infidels and sorcerers, public flogging and chopping off the head for edification are everyday life in the monarchy. With complete indifference of the West.

One of the main reasons for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is called his "bloody regime" by the US and EU. Much outrage was caused, in particular, by the government's crackdown on protesters in 2011, thanks to which the country managed to avoid a coup. Police used weapons to disperse rioters who had fallen under the influence of the Arab Spring. Since then, Western politicians have insisted that Assad should be in place at the head of the country.

Iran, where the death penalty is still practiced, is also ranked among the "axis of evil". But another major player in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia - remains the main ally. Although, in terms of human rights violations, the Saudis could give odds to both Syria and Iran combined. And the recent execution of a Shiite preacher, which has become the reason for the aggravated confrontation between Riyadh and Tehran, are only flowers.

In Saudi Arabia, executions are often carried out in large quantities, writes Lenta.ru. There are plenty of reasons for this: sexual contact outside of marriage, atheism, conversion from Islam to another religion, homosexuality, gambling, alcohol and even witchcraft. And if at the same time you ended up in prison, you are very lucky. Most often, punishment involves beating with a whip, chopping off hands or head.

The entire justice system is built on a religious foundation. The dominant religion is Islam, the dominant confession is Sunnism, the dominant religious trend is Wahhabism. In Saudi Arabia, as in the "Islamic State" *, with which the kingdom is officially at war, Sharia law is in force.

For accusation or acquittal, a simple oath is often enough. A lawyer is considered an unnecessary luxury. Executions of minors and the mentally ill are allowed. According to Sharia, a judge can impose three types of punishments: qisas (allows you to pay for the damage done with money), hadd (usually involves public lashing) and ta'zir (from an instructive conversation to chopping off the head with subsequent crucifixion).

Perhaps the most effective method is the head clipping. Held publicly, with a large crowd of people. After the execution, the body of the offender, as a rule, is put on public display, most often crucified - for the edification of others.

For those who like to drink, play in the casino, walk in a short top, and even publicly express their feelings - it's better not to go here. For all this, you can lose your head.

At the same time, oddly enough, homosexuality is widespread in Saudi Arabia. Many homosexuals even call Riyadh a "gay haven." The fact is that strict Sharia law, which prohibits sexual contact between a man and a woman outside of marriage, encourages young men to look for a partner among their own kind. Therefore, homosexuality by mutual consent or in the form of rape has become a long-standing problem in Saudi educational institutions, where students are divided by gender. Moreover, as a rule, those against whom violence is committed - "liabilities" are subject to public censure. "Activity" in this sense is perceived as a manifestation of masculinity, and therefore the law often turns a blind eye to such crimes.

But witchcraft here, as in the Middle Ages, is fought decisively and uncompromisingly. The accusation, as a rule, is based on reports from vigilant neighbors or subordinates. For these purposes, a special hotline... The verdict is the most severe: beheading and subsequent crucifixion. At the same time, ordinary migrant workers often become victims of fighters against magic, conspiracies and genies - their status is considered below that of the indigenous Saudis, and this makes them almost defenseless.

All these are well-known facts that the Saudi authorities do not hide and are not going to soften their legal system. Many Western human rights activists are outraged, but not politicians. Against the backdrop of Riyadh's help in dumping oil prices or sponsoring "moderate" rebels in Syria, in the eyes of the West, the Saudi regime does not seem bloody enough to impose vaunted American "democracy" here.

* "Islamic State" (IG) - an organization banned in the Russian Federation

Ekaterina Alonova

A large, oil-rich Middle Eastern country that borders Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan, Saudi Arabia is the most influential power in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is the "Land of Two Shrines", home to the oldest Islamic cities, and one of the few states with an absolute monarchy. She is the only one with access to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The kingdom is beautiful, of course, but its traditions of treating women and the use of the death penalty are controversial issues for the whole world. Saudi Arabia also leads the OPEC oil cartel, which has a huge impact on the global oil market.
One day the Kingdom invaded civil war in Yemen, supporting the government against Houthi militants. But outside help does not exclude the presence of its own problems: the decline in oil prices, internal political differences and attempts to diversify the economy. In the understanding of the West, this country is an anachronism, where the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam is an absolute law, and where a woman is prohibited from driving. But on the other hand, here are the roots great history and the cultures to which millions of Muslims flock annually for the pilgrimage of the Hajj and the vast oil fields.
Here are 15 amazing facts about the oil Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
15. NO ELECTIONS, PARLIAMENT, POLITICAL PARTIES AND DISCUSSION

An absolute monarchy reigns here, there are no national elections, political parties and a representative parliament, there is only a symbolic council body, the Mejlis al-Shura, or the Consultative Assembly, which does not have the authority to pass laws and enforce them. This open disregard for democratic norms has been going on for decades. Along with the most violent dictatorial countries, Saudi Arabia regularly receives the lowest scores for civil and political freedom from think tanks like Freedom House.
There is no constitution either, although a charter known as the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia, passed by royal decree in 1992, obliges the monarch to rule, observing Sharia and the Koran instead of the Constitution. Criticism and dissent are strictly prohibited: activists are regularly imprisoned and sentenced to severe punishments. Examples: Abd al-Karim, who demanded a transition to a constitutional monarchy and received 8 years in prison for this, and blogger Raif Badawi, who received 1,000 lashes for calling for freedom of speech.
14. HOUSE OF THE HOLY ISLAMIC CITIES


Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and the most sacred religious sites - Mecca and Medina. Kaaba 13 meters high is the most sacred place in the Great Mosque of Mecca, the holiest mosque in Islam. All Muslims direct their prayers to her. One of the five pillars of Islam requires that every Muslim make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life, if he has the strength and finances. An estimated two million people visit Saudi Arabia every year.
It is not hard to guess that the abundant congestion of pilgrims in one place could lead to serious problems, such as the stampede in 2015, which killed and injured, according to some sources, more than 2,000 people.
13. ALL EXECUTION DOES NOT ENOUGH EXECUTIONERS


The death penalty is widespread in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, the authorities saw them off every other day. The country ranks 4th in the world in terms of the number of executions, they are committed for reasons such as adultery and rejection of Islam. In most cases, execution is carried out by cutting off the head with a scimitar. The kingdom may be the only country suffering from a shortage of executioners: in early 2013, the government thought about changing the method of execution due to the lack of executioners. The priority is given to the method of execution.
In addition, Saudi Arabia is one of four countries where public executions remain. Diyera Square in the center of Riyadh is a famous place of public beheadings, known locally as "chop-chop square".
12. HUGE OIL RESERVES


What words come to mind when mentioning Saudi Arabia? Since the Kingdom is the largest exporter of crude oil, its name is synonymous with everything related to oil and gas. More than half of GDP comes from oil industry profits. Oil reserves are simply unrealistic: the largest Gavar field can accommodate 4,770,897 Olympic pools. It is estimated that even after decades of pumping oil for export, there are still about 75 billion barrels left.
Saudi Arabia has 22 percent of the world's oil reserves, only Venezuela has more. In 1960, the Kingdom was one of the founders of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Because of the large-scale oil industry, 30 percent of the country's population is foreign workers.
11. THE LARGEST COUNTRY WITHOUT A SINGLE RIVER


Saudi Arabia's area of \u200b\u200bmore than 2 million square kilometers puts it in 13th place in the world in terms of territorial size. More than 95 percent are deserts and semi-deserts, many of which are the largest on earth (Big Nefud in the north and Rub al-Khali in the south). Due to the abundance of deserts and average temperature about 45 degrees Celsius in Saudi Arabia there are no rivers and lakes, but underground water bodies flow.
It is the largest country in the Middle East, it is most The Arabian Peninsula (about a quarter of the United States) is the world's largest territorial entity without a single river on the map.
10. ROYAL FAMILY COSTS 14 TRILLION DOLLARS


As the head of the House of Saud, the monarch and thousands of his royal relatives hold all the important offices of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The royal power of this country would be the coveted object of any medieval court; King Salman's capital is estimated at more than $ 17 billion, and more than 7,000 family princes (some estimate about 30,000 members of the royal nobility) hold important positions while more talented candidates are left behind due to the wrong surname.
From the state oil monopoly, the royal family makes huge profits, which are estimated at about 270 billion a year.
In fact, if you imagine all the wealth royal family Saudi Arabia as a single sum, you get about $ 14 trillion.
9. SEVERE PUNISHMENT

We've already mentioned the brutal laws of Saudi Arabia, how about punishments? It turns out that they are no better: the legal system uses the same ultra-conservative and traditionalist Hanbali school as the basis of jurisprudence as the terrorist Islamic State. The legal process takes place exclusively on the basis of a certain interpretation of Islamic law.
The authorities' punishments include cutting off arms and legs for theft, whipping and stoning for adultery and other acts, cutting off the head for riots, political crimes, drug smuggling and witchcraft. Death sentences are also imposed for blasphemy, homosexuality and violent robbery. Saudi Arabia has been unresponsive to ever-growing pressure to liberalize its legal system and has consistently applied punishment and the death penalty.
8. DANGEROUS SIDEWALK SKIING


This is a pretty bold entertainment, fraught with "funny" danger. The stunt consists of moving on two wheels from one side of the car along the road, during which a person climbs onto the car and stands on top of it along the entire movement. Fans of this entertainment treat it with a purely sports interest, but this is one of the most useless and dangerous inventions that humanity has ever betrayed.
In one video, a team of such "stuntmen" get out of the car to change the tire. All this happens on the go. To say “Don't try this at home” is to say nothing.
7. TENT SETTLEMENT


Initially, the pilgrims took tents with them on the journey and set them up on the plains of Mina. In the 1990s, the Saudi government made housing easier for religious tourists by setting up a camp site with regular cotton tents. But in 1997, a fire broke out in the settlement, killing 350 pilgrims. After that, a new camp with fire-resistant tents was organized. Mina City has 100,000 air-conditioned tidy fireproof tents with kitchen and bathroom. In fact, this is a modern residential complex.
The state-of-the-art tents can accommodate around 3 million people. For about 5 days a year they are occupied by pilgrims, and the rest of the time they are empty. The kingdom has received a flurry of international criticism after refusing to host Syrian refugees there.
6. THE PROBLEM WITH WOMEN'S LINGERIE


Women are virtually prohibited from working outside the home. This creates awkward situations, such as when the salesperson in the lingerie department is a man. Embarrassed women who could not make intimate purchases because of this made an attempt to change the law. They were heeded, and in 2012 a decree was issued prohibiting men from working in women's lingerie stores.
But the decree contradicted Sharia, which is why about a hundred stores ignored the innovation. A few months after the law came into force, they were closed. The decree is still in effect, and various inspectorates regularly monitor its implementation. If a male seller is found, shops are threatened with closure.
5. THEY HAVE A "MAGIC POLICE"


In Saudi Arabia, everything that is directly or indirectly related to magic, witchcraft and magic is prohibited. This is considered a serious crime, people were even beheaded for allegedly practicing magic. The government takes the magic threat so seriously that it even banned the Harry Potter books and created special anti-witch police units. Created in 2009, the Anti-Witchcraft Group is on the Saudi Arabia's Religious Police Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Riot Prevention. They are tasked with restraining sorcerers and preventing their spells. Since 2009, more than 500 people have been prosecuted for the practice of magic.
People who are supposedly whispering spells, performing rituals, or being caught with talismans can get into very serious trouble. But the question of witchcraft is very delicate, because the original and generally recognized features of witches are as follows: they have a broom on which they fly. The legal code of Saudi Arabia leaves the decision of this issue up to the judge, who should summarize whether the person is guilty of witchcraft and whether he will receive death penalty.
4. IN THE FUTURE COUNTRY WITH THE WORLD'S HIGHEST BUILDING


The most anticipated event for all people the globe - construction of "The tallest building in the world". On this moment this position is held by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. In 2018, the title will be proudly held by the Tower of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, also known as the Royal Tower. It will be the first building in history to reach a kilometer-high and will be the shining center of Saudi Arabia's new coastal city. To imagine what it will look like, imagine the World Trade Center in New York (541 meters) - here it is just over half the estimated height of the Royal Tower.
Once completed, the tower will have a hotel, observatory, offices and obscenely expensive penthouses. The preliminary cost is $ 1.2 billion. Now the project is called "the limit of engineering capabilities."
3.WOMAN'S RIGHTS IS EVEN WORSE THAN YOU THINK


Before traveling to Saudi Arabia, it is highly recommended that you familiarize yourself with its laws. Recently, women's rights in the Persian Gulf have been the subject of social opposition. It is now the last country on earth where women are not allowed to drive. This fact attracts representatives of the media everywhere. This is just the tip of the iceberg, without a man's permission, women are prohibited from leaving home, shopping, opening a bank account, getting hired, going to school, acting as a legal entity and other official, and agreeing to an operation.
Until recently, women were unable to vote and sit on the advisory chamber of the chamber, making Saudi Arabia the last country to give the female gender the right to vote. Before his death, King Abdullah assigned a fifth of the council chamber to women and allowed them to vote, but this was more of a symbolic gesture that did not in fact affect the lives of Saudi women.
2. ONE OF THE BIGGEST MILITARY BUDGETS IN THE WORLD


For a country of 33 million, Saudi Arabia's military spending is enormous. The kingdom usually ranks 4th in the world in terms of the number of military spending, behind the United States, China and Russia, and all superpowers have a population and territory many times larger. In 2015, it stood in 3rd place, raising the budget from $ 80 billion to over $ 87 billion.
By the way, Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries that has one of the most advanced tanks in the world - the M1 Abrams. There are about several hundred of them. In 2010-2014, the Kingdom was the second largest arms importer in the world.
1. IMPORT OF SAND AND CAMELS FROM AUSTRALIA


Yes, that's right: the sandy country actually buys sand from Australia. What for? It turns out that not a single type of Saudi sand is suitable for construction. For the construction of buildings, special alluvial sand without silica is needed (it often creates a lot of dust and difficulties for workers when sandblasting). The Kingdom receives the sand with the necessary properties from Australia.
Now about the camels. In Saudi Arabia, they are used to transport people and goods, and sometimes for racing. Australia is happy to export its camels, which are wild and vicious. Ironically, camels were first imported to Australia from Arabia, India and Afghanistan in the 19th century.

This text is one of them. In Saudi Arabia, executions are frequent and large. Sexual contact outside of marriage, or at least a hint of it, atheism, conversion from Islam to another religion, homosexuality, witchcraft, gambling - this is an incomplete list of crimes for which in the Wahhabi kingdom you can get a thousand lashes, ten years in prison, or even lose your head ... And despite the outrage of the international community, Riyadh is not going to soften its legal system.

Saudi law

This is quite understandable: Saudi Arabia is a theocratic monarchy, where the entire system of justice is built on a religious foundation. The dominant religion is Islam, the dominant confession is Sunnism, the dominant religious trend is Wahhabism. Therefore, in Saudi Arabia, as in the "Islamic State", with which the kingdom is officially at war, Sharia law is in force.

It is not surprising that Saudi justice differs markedly from the West: for accusation or acquittal, a simple oath is often enough, a lawyer is often considered an unnecessary luxury, executions of minors and the mentally ill are allowed, no difference is made (at least formally) between a citizen of the kingdom and a foreigner when making verdict (in particular, among those executed on January 2 were citizens of Chad and Egypt).

According to the Sharia, a judge can impose three types of punishments: hadd (for crimes against morality and public order - drunkenness, gambling, slander, debauchery), qisas (punishment on the principle of "eye for an eye", which are imposed for murder and serious bodily harm) and tazir - punishments for the edification of violations of public order, such as homosexuality, adultery, theft in the bazaar, disobeying the authorities, non-fasting, and the like.

Hadd, as a rule, provides for public lashes, qisas allows you to pay for the damage done with money (diya), but tazir can vary widely - from edifying conversation to chopping off the head with subsequent crucifixion.

Healing whip

Most often, the attention of foreign media comes to the punishment of lashes. Although it is spread almost throughout the Muslim world, Saudi Arabia stands out from the crowd. They beat more and more often. There are no strict rules: the Sharia judge himself decides how many lashes the offender deserves.

The sad record belongs to the Egyptian Muhammad Ali al-Sayyid: in 1990 he was sentenced to four thousand blows. Riyadh explained to the outraged world community that in fact al-Sayyid was given mercy: the Egyptian was accused of robbery, and his hand was to be cut off. And they limited themselves to whipping.

Four thousand lashes - a lot or a little? This is what the Filipino Donato Lama, who was sentenced to 75 lashes for publicly professing Christianity in 1999, said: “I was brought to the flogging site and tied to a post. Hands were handcuffed, and legs were also shackled. I was wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants. The whip is one and a half meters long, its end is weighted with a piece of lead. Several blows hit my hips and back. I would have fallen when the whip whipped me in the legs, but the guard was holding me, and the execution continued. Amazing: I took 70 blows, but was still alive. Blood flowed down my back, I screamed. "

Another type of public punishment is beheading. Produced with a large crowd of people. As a rule, after the execution, the body of the criminal is put on public display for educational purposes - most often crucified.

Struggle for sobriety

The most common crime for which the Saudi themis punishes foreigners is violating the strict Sharia ban on alcohol. The year before last, the kingdom's police arrested 73-year-old Briton Karl Andrie in the city of Jeddah after finding a bottle of house wine. Although he suffered from cancer and asthma, Andry spent more than a year in jail awaiting his sentencing of 350 lashes. It was only after the British government, under pressure from his relatives and the newly elected leader of the opposition Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, tore off his contract with Riyadh to train prison staff and threatened to further deteriorate relations that the Saudis backed down and released the convict home.

He was much more fortunate than his compatriot John Kelly: in 1985 he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and 250 lashes - 50 at a time with two months' rehabilitation breaks, as well as a fine of 17 thousand pounds. The outrage of the British government was so sharp that Riyadh, for the next thirty years, preferred to turn a blind eye to the moonshine that many British expats were engaged in, and in case of unpleasant incidents, simply expel them - like Peter and Anne Goldsmiths, caught making homemade wine and importing to the land of whiskey.

But what is allowed to Jupiter, that is, Britain - one of the key Saudi allies since the formation of the Wahhabi kingdom - is not allowed to the bull. In September 1999, two alcohol-filled chocolate bars were found in the luggage of a Filipino Faustino Salazar. Despite the detainee's assurances that he bought chocolate from a duty free shop in Bahrain airport, he was sentenced to 75 lashes and four months in prison.

Country of one religion

However, religious crimes are considered much more serious. The worst thing is apostasy, which means not only the conversion to another faith, but also atheism. Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayyad is now in prison, executions: according to Sharia judges, in one of his books he promoted atheism.

Moreover, more than seven percent of the population of Saudi Arabia is non-Muslim. Most of the Roman Catholic migrant workers are from the Philippines, but there are also representatives of other confessions: Protestants from Europe, Orthodox Christians from Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The public confession of Christianity in the kingdom is prohibited, and non-Islamic religious items, including the Bible, crucifixes, images of saints, cannot be stored. Christians and representatives of other religions can only pray at home. The observance of the law is monitored by a special religious police - the Sharia Guard.

Frame: Theodore Shoebat / LifeLeak

Often Christian foreigners find themselves hostage to the international situation. After information leaked to the press in 2004 about the desecration of the Koran by the American military at the Guantanamo base, the Sharia Guard conducted a series of raids on Christian apartments, covering up an underground Catholic church in one of them and arresting more than 40 Pakistani Christians, as well as several Catholic Filipinos. Needless to say, not a single American has been detained: Washington is also a key ally of Riyadh, with whom the Saudis do not want to quarrel. It is much easier to vent anger on defenseless Filipinos or Pakistani Christians, who are considered pariahs in their home country.

Sex and jail

An important field of activity of Sharia courts is the prevention of debauchery and adultery. Moreover, these concepts are interpreted very broadly.

In October 2009, Saudi Airways employee Mazen Abdul-Jawad inadvertently appeared on Lebanese television, talking about his sex life and dating girls. Upon returning to his homeland, he faced five years in prison and a thousand lashes.

The most egregious case is what has become known as the "Katif rape." In 2006, seven people attacked a young Shiite woman and her companion in a car, kidnapped and raped both of them. The criminals received several hundred lashes and prison sentences, but the rape victims were also sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes for being in the car together without being spouses.

Despite enormous pressure from the conservative mass of the population and the Sharia guard, the victim's husband did not abandon her, saying that the woman was not to blame for anything. A wave of indignation has risen in the world. Even future President Barack Obama, then a Senator, urged the Department of State to do everything it can to avoid punishing the victims. In the end, King Abdullah made a Solomon decision: he overturned the sentence of the injured woman, explaining this for reasons of public good, but emphasized that the judge acted absolutely justly.

"Gay Paradise"

Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia is also severely punished - you can lose your head for a same-sex relationship. However, judges often impose rather mild sentences, especially when compared with sentences under other articles. Thus, one of the residents of the kingdom, whose name was not disclosed, received three years in prison and 450 lashes: he was accused of dating other men using microblogging on Twitter, and was convicted of "indulging in vice and homosexuality."

Perhaps one of the reasons is that homosexuality is widespread in Saudi Arabia. A paradoxical situation has developed in the kingdom: the fight against extramarital sex, the relationship between a man and a woman is paid much more attention than the fight against same-sex sex. There is an unspoken pact between gays and the Saudi authorities: the LGBT community demonstrates a respectful attitude towards the norms of Wahhabism, in exchange for this, the authorities turn a blind eye to the "private life" of these subjects. Sometimes there are excesses, but in general, the agreement is respected. As admitted in an interview with The Atlantic, one of the Saudi gay men - 42-year-old American expat Radwan, in large cities like Jeddah and Riyadh, there is a large LGBT community, and many of the gay men meet openly in cafes, make dates on the streets and on the Internet. Another homosexual, the Syrian Talal, who has been living in the kingdom for 15 years, even called Riyadh a “gay paradise”.

In general, Saudi homosexuality bears little resemblance to European homosexuality. The attitude towards same-sex relationships in the kingdom is somewhat similar to the attitude towards this in Russian prisons. It is believed that the reputation of only the passive partner suffers, while the active partner, on the contrary, emphasizes his masculinity and, as it were, is not a homosexual.

Strict Sharia law, which prohibits sexual contact between an unmarried man and a woman, literally pushes young men to look for a partner among comrades. This leads to the fact that homosexuality by mutual consent or in the form of rape has become a long-standing problem in Saudi educational institutions, segregated by gender.

War with sorcerers

If the Saudi authorities turn a blind eye to homosexuality, they are fighting witchcraft decisively and uncompromisingly. For him, the sentence, as a rule, is one: the beheading and subsequent crucifixion - for the edification of others.

As a rule, vigilant neighbors or subordinates report that this or that citizen of the kingdom is engaged in forbidden magic. For these purposes, a special hotline has been organized: anyone can report a magical crime to the anti-witchcraft service. When arrested, additional security measures are taken: after all, it is reliably known that some sorcerers conclude an agreement with the genies, therefore they can fly through the air.

The fight against sorcerers is not limited to the limits of the kingdom. In 2010, the Lebanese fortuneteller Ali Hussein Sibat lost his head: during his speech on a TV show, he predicted the future to those who wanted to and gave the audience advice. The Saudi secret services followed him for several years and arrested him when Sibat inadvertently decided to perform the Hajj.

Most often, however, the victims of vigilant fighters against magic are migrant workers, whose status is obviously below that of the indigenous Saudis and who cannot protect themselves. For example, in May 2013, two maids from Southeast Asia were sentenced to a thousand lashes and ten years in prison for magical harm inflicted on their owners. Given the usual verdict for witchcraft, it can be assumed that women got off easy.

All this Saudi specificity causes natural protests in the West. Citizens of Europe and other civilized countries often ask themselves why Washington and London, relying on moral considerations, rank Tehran as an "axis of evil" due to the massive practice of the death penalty there, but turn a blind eye to much harsher sentences, which Are Sharia Courts of the Wahhabi Kingdom Released?

How will your first day in Saudi Arabia start?

Friday noon. A crowd surrounded the center of old Riyadh. The big al-Juma prayer has just finished in the main mosque of the city. A sharp sword, a little over a meter long, with a curved end in Arabic, forged from steel shining in the sun, is now raised high above the head of a figure kneeling on its knees. From under the white clothes that hide the entire body, only a bare neck peeps out. Sixty or more men stood in anticipation, standing around the perimeter of a wide, quadrangular square, guarded by a confused row of eight soldiers dressed in bronze-colored uniforms.

The executioner, holding the sword, takes on rampant proportions and seems somehow mystically ghostly, like a vision, in his long white shirt dishdash and red checkered bandage of the keffiyeh. He is ready to deliver a decisive swing, but suddenly steps back. Moves away a couple of steps from the block. Quietly confers with two policemen and another person - the only person who can stop him: the victim of a criminal on death row.

The short meeting is over. The executioner returns to the chopping block. He puts his right leg forward, his left leg wide back, as if he were doing a stretch. An ascended sword gives a second glint of sunlight. A second moment - and ..!

But the executioner only gently lowers the sword around the condemned man's neck. Gives him the feel of hardened steel. The body of the criminal tenses and freezes in anticipation. The sword swings high again, only this time for real. One precise and powerful blow cuts through skin, muscles and bones with a dull, hollow echo. A bloody waterfall bursts from a severed neck onto a granite square with a characteristic sound, as if wet linen is being squeezed into a steel basin. The decapitated body leans forward, falls over slightly and falls on its right side.

The executioner wipes the sword with a piece of white cloth. The crowd part as two men in blue overalls emerge from the depths of the low arches that surround the square, lift the body up and place it on a stretcher. One of them picks up the head by the piece of cloth in which it was wrapped. The corpus delicti is read out loudly: rape, drug dealing and demonic possession. The executioner sheathes the sword. A thick-bearded man in the form of a soldier claps his palms and lifts them up to the sky.

In five minutes, there will be no one left on the square except the janitor spraying the bloody granite with a hose.

The death penalty is used in many countries. The public death penalty is popular in only four places on the planet. Well, the public death penalty using the entire spectrum of "technologies", such as hanging, beheading, stoning, shooting, as well as decapitation followed by crucifixion of the body on cranes, is used only in Saudi Arabia. In Iran, 7 times more people are executed per year, but even there they do without chopping off the head. When comparing Saudi and other countries, for some reason this important detail is often forgotten.

Someone writes that recently in Saudi Arabia, public executions have ceased, and the situation is improving. Nothing like this. The wide quadrangular square, on which the executed head flew, is called by the locals Chop-Chop square.

Chop-Chop Square is nothing interesting. It is just an empty space in the center of old Riyadh, surrounded by low walls. One of the adjacent buildings houses the central city mosque. Not far from the square are the buildings of the court and various ministries. The perfect place for the death penalty.

The architectural complex of the square is completed by the ministry "For the promotion of virtue and refraining from vice", on the sandy facade of which there is a poster with the slogan: "My prayer is my happiness."

On all days except Friday, the square is unremarkable and even boring. In the shade at the tables, the Arabs sit and drink tea, prayers are held in the mosque and in general it is very good to relax under the palm trees in the heat.

On Friday there is a special, long Friday prayer, which is very important for Muslims. Countless crowds of Riyadh residents flock to the nearby mosques from all directions. Police cordoned off everything around the central square. Sirens are constantly howling and dozens of red and blue lights shimmer. It seems that they are not here to defend against a terrorist attack, but as if a terrorist attack has already taken place.

Even close to Chop-Chop Square, there is no desire to be at this time, let alone to think about going inside. Any non-Muslim is stopped by armed soldiers and thoroughly examined. Then they pass.

The author came to look at the death penalty, keeping the camera in the bag in the off state - for trying to remove the cutting off of the head, I would not want to lose it myself. Armed soldiers on the way to the square checked their bag, looked at each other, reported something on the radio and let it go. Then I sat on the bench for half an hour and waited for what would happen.

A few minutes later, the Arabs left, finishing their tea. A police jeep drove up and dropped the duty officer a few meters away. Then the jeep drove into the visibility zone at the other end of the square, and the soldier remained standing and pretending that he had nothing to do with me. The author, on the other hand, sat on a bench under the palm trees with folded arms, holding the camera off in his bag.

Nothing else happened on the square. No death penalty. But as soon as I got up and walked to the exit, the soldier immediately stopped me. I asked to open the bag. I took the camera and turned it on. He asked me to look through the photographs of the streets of Riyadh. Then he snatched the camera out of his hands and began to thumb through back sidereporting on the radio what he sees in each photo. Several minutes passed in this way until he made sure that I had not filmed the square.

I did not see the death penalty. They really stopped being held in Chop-Chop square, but only in this square! In order not to gather crowds of onlookers, the Saudi authorities are now beheading not at the central mosque, but in the place where the crime was committed.

It's incredible how crazy the laws are. First, the killer is arrested and imprisoned. The court is being conducted. Only one thing can save him from the death penalty - ransom. Often the relatives of the murderer and the relatives of the victim agree on a ransom. As a result, the murderers are not always executed, and the heads of drug dealers, homosexuals and political dissidents, for whom either no one cares or is more expensive for themselves, to get involved.

The most important thing: after the trial, if it is possible to establish the scene of the crime, the victim is taken to this place, wherever it is, and his head is chopped off there. If only right in the middle of the street. For example, like this woman who killed and raped a child, screaming to the end that she was not guilty.

Well, nothing else happens on Chop-Chop Square. Not far from the former blockhouse, a city museum was opened in a former fort. Workers and businessmen often come here on weekends, and school trips are held. Almost none of these "tourists" even know that after a hundred meters they chopped off their heads.

Old Riyadh

Masmak Fortress is a beautifully executed remake, reconstruction of an old fort.

The fortress has restored a 19th century Arabic interior - boring and pointless, like all of Arabia.

Model of the old city.

On the wall there are quotes from King Abdul Aziz: "I conquered this country thanks to the will of Allah and the Arab spirit."

There is a working copy of the will of Allah in the yard.

Interesting characters. With some sly one, they sniffed out something.

Streets behind the fortress.

There is also a market next to the fort, a typical bazaar, like in any third world country. The market sells carpets, clothing and gold.

As soon as I took this harmless picture, a policeman drew attention to me. I called to my car and asked for my passport. I considered a business visa for a long time. Realizing that there was no point in me, he made a saddened, simply upset face and in the voice of a teacher in kindergarten said:

Andrew ... You ... Are you taking pictures? .. (Like, well, shame on you, a businessman, after all)
- Yes, I'm only Fort Masmak!
- Ah-ah, well, go, inshallah.

⁂

There is another historical site a few kilometers from Riyadh - the ruins of the old city of Ad-Dir.

The restored ruins, of course.

You can write about them for exactly one reason - here it is surprisingly empty and clumsy, as if you got into a plastic model.

But I must say, the Arabs are doing it right. The doors seem to have been carved by the same master as 200 years ago.

However, it is not necessary to go to the artificial ruins. Secretly speaking, there are enough real ruins in the center. I walked around the city for a long time, bypassed all non-tourist places. Hidden behind pathetic skyscrapers and a wealthy private sector, Riyadh is at its core made up of filthy, shitty streets lined with shabby low-rise buildings.

This is what is happening a hundred meters from Chop-Chop Square.

This is what the real Riyadh looks like. Just like those museum ruins, only for real. The old houses, built of sand and coral, seemed to have been washed away by water - only heaps of clay remained, no frame.

Such streets cover more than half of the city. Riyadh is also full of Pakistani neighborhoods that look even worse.

I went around the whole city; I decided to get the camera only in a couple of places. After all the Saudi paranoia and two arrests - who knows, I would be mistaken for a spy or just a careless fool.

Anatoly Glazunov (Blockade) from the book "Sexual Freaks in Russia".

Shooting, loop cutting off eggs (continued)

In Saudi Arabia, pedophiles get their heads cut off

Saudi Arabia banner

Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia

King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah

The Constitution of the country and the Criminal Code are based on the norms of Sharia and the dogmas of Wahhabism. Crimes that provide for the death penalty in Saudi Arabia include willful murder,homosexuality, armed robbery,adultery,rape, religious apostasy, smuggling, trafficking, possession and use of drugs; and the organization of opposition groups. There are no political parties in Saudi Arabia. Thus, sexual crimes are classified as very serious crimes. Previously, criminals were stoned, now more often their heads are cut off with a sword. In a mild case, pederasts are sentenced to severe flogging (up to 7 thousand lashes).

In Saudi Arabia, there is the position of the state executioner. The position of the chief executioner of Mecca is inherited in the family of al-Bishi, and each heir is approved by the king himself. Currently, the chief executioner is Abdullah ibn Said al-Bishi. The executions in Mecca are carried out in the square in front of the gates of Abdel Aziz, before that they were carried out in front of the Al-Haram mosque.
In 2002, 47 people were executed (45 men, 2 women), in 2003 - 53 (52 men, 1 woman), in 2004 - 36 (35 men, 1 woman), in 2005 - 90 (88 men, 2 women), in 2006 - 39 people (35 men, 4 women). ...

EXECUTION PROCESS
“The execution process itself in Saudi Arabia is a whole ceremony, the traditions of which have been preserved and replenished for hundreds of years.
All executions take place after midday prayer in the central square. The condemned to death is brought to the place blindfolded. Law enforcement forces clear the area of \u200b\u200bcars and passers-by, after which a piece of blue cloth or plastic is spread on the ground.
The Muttava officer (Muttava is the morality police) leads the condemned to the center of this matter, the condemned kneels down facing Mecca. If the execution takes place in Mecca, face the Kaaba. The police read out the verdict and give the order to carry it out.
The executioner receives a sword from the hands of a police officer, approaches the convict from behind, and, before cutting off the head, makes several waves of the sword in the air. To stop the gushing bleeding as soon as possible, a medic is always present at the execution. The body of the beheaded is buried without a coffin and headstone on the same day.
Until the early 90s, only men were executed in Saudi Arabia, but by early 2007, 40 women had been executed.
There are entire dynasties of executioners in the country, who, like the family of al-Bishi, pass on their work from generation to generation. The death penalty also affected the culture of the Arabs. So, for example, the popular folk "Dance of War" al-Arda is largely derived from the movements of the executioner. "Funeral portal. Middle East and Asia. http://www.funeralportal.ru/article.php?ObjectId\u003d915 ...

Of course, the pernicious influence from the USA and western Europe still takes place. The Saudi Arabian Minister of Health announced on 12 November 2003 that there are over 6,700 HIV-positive residents in the Kingdom. Among them, only 1509 are citizens of the country. That is, the carriers of the virus are mainly foreigners leading a sadomite lifestyle. The first case of HIV was reported in Saudi Arabia in 1984. Today, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health has 6,787 HIV-positive people.

In his statement, the head of the country's Epidemiological Control noted that in 95% of cases, HIV infection "becomes the result of prohibited sexual relations." By "prohibited relationships" the representative of the organization means "sexual contacts outside of marriage, homosexuality and pedophilia."
http://www.aids.ru/news/2003/11/12-2202.htm

Photo: Reuters Jamaica lifted moratorium on executions

Opponents of the resumption of the death penalty point to failure According to opinion polls, the majority of Jamaica's 2.7 million residents support the return of the death penalty. 35 deputies spoke in support of the death penalty. 15 voted against, 10 abstained. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, under pressure from the public over the rise in crime, also supported the introduction of the death penalty.
Since 1988, a moratorium on the death penalty has been in effect in Jamaica, but the Labor Party, which came to power a year ago, insisted on the resumption of the death penalty.
According to the results of opinion polls, the majority of the 2.7 million inhabitants Jamaicans support the return of the death penalty.