Saudi Gay Men Executed for Killing Man Who Witnessed Sex Act
The
Advocate, March 15, 2005
Two gay Saudi men were executed Sunday for killing a
Pakistani man who saw them in a “shameful situation,” the Saudi interior
ministry said.
Two Saudi men were executed Sunday for killing a
Pakistani man who saw them in a “shameful situation,” the Saudi interior
ministry said in a statement issued by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The phrase “shameful situation” is used to refer to
homosexual acts, viewed as a sin against Islam and prohibited in Saudi Arabia
and other Muslim nations. In Saudi Arabia homosexual acts can be punished by
flogging or prison terms.
Ahmed bin Shenayen bin Dhiya al-Inizi and Shaher bin
Waqaaf bin Qayidh al-Ruwaily were convicted of killing Pakistani national
Malek Zade Khan in the northern town of Arar, the ministry said. They feared
the scene he’d witnessed could create a scandal for them, so they first ran
him over with a car, then crushed his skull with a rock and set him on fire,
the statement read.
Sunday’s beheadings brought the number of people
beheaded in Saudi Arabia this year to 24. Saudi authorities executed 35 people
in 2004, down from 52 people the year before. Most were convicted of drug
smuggling.
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam
under which people convicted of drug trafficking, murder, rape, and armed
robbery can be executed. Beheadings are carried out with a sword in public.
(AP)
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