Saudi Woman Executed for Witchcraft

DUBAI – Rights group Amnesty International has described as "deeply shocking" Saudi Arabia’s beheading of a woman convicted on charges of "sorcery and witchcraft," saying it underlined the urgent need to end executions in the kingdom.
Saudi national Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was executed on Monday in the northern province of al-Jawf after being tried and convicted for practicing sorcery, the interior ministry said, without giving details of the charges.
"The citizen… practiced acts of witchcraft and sorcery," Saudi newspaper al-Watan cited the interior ministry as saying. "The death sentence was carried out on the accused yesterday (Monday) in the Qurayyat district in al-Jawf region."
Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, has no written criminal code, which is instead based on an uncodified form of Islamic sharia law as interpreted by the country’s judges.
"While we don’t know the details of the acts which the authorities accused Amina of committing, the charge of sorcery has often been used in Saudi Arabia to punish people, generally after unfair trials, for exercising their right to freedom of speech or religion," Philip Luther, interim director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement.
Amnesty said the execution was the second of its kind in recent months. A Sudanese national was beheaded in the Saudi city of Medina in September after being convicted on sorcery charges, according to the London-based group.
Amnesty put at 79 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia so far this year, nearly triple the figure in 2010.

Can’t get Enough

Guest post written by my buddy Jill Arnold

I can’t get enough of my direct tv and it’s mostly because there are so many entertaining shows on right now about being single and how to get a man. I am single and although I don’t watch the shows to get advice I think it’s really entertaining to see where other people in my position are thriving and where they need work. There’s one on right now called Tough Love and it’s fascinating – it’s all these women living together in a house and the matchmaker just keeps throwing curveballs at them and telling them why they’re not finding love. He’s surprisingly accurate and they just have the hardest time listening but it’s been really encouraging watching the great guys come on the show – I guess there are some good men left out there! I can only imagine what it will be like when I find my true love but until then I’m going to sit at home and watch these shows to my heart’s content, you know what I mean?