An outrageous story: A Saudi Arabian woman who after being raped 14 times by 7 men was sentenced to 200 lashes for admitting being alone in a car with a man not related to her. Not only did the Saudi Judge make this heinously wrong decision but he also jailed her for six months after she appealed against the lenient sentences given to the men who attacked her, though managed to raise their sentences to between 2-9 years. It makes me wonder:
Less than two weeks later, Gillian Gibbons, the teacher from the UK who, in Sudan, unwittingly let a child name a toy bear Mohammed has been sentenced to 15 days in prison. Not content, thousands of protesters brandishing weapons are now demanding her death on the grounds of blasphemy. There's a famous Monty Python sketch which tackled the flaws of this argument back in 1979:
A paragraph from the story reported by Sky News today:
"She doesn't want anyone using her as something to stoke up resentment between anyone - be they Sudanese or Muslim"
She may well not, but the over-riding influence appears to derive from extreme decisions made by the Judges in these lands, followed by exagerrated protesters. It leaves me wondering yet again: Who on Earth would want to live in a place governed in this manner, let alone offer to help educate their young? Who on Earth would want to visit Sudan?
Here's a paragraph from the Sudan Embassy on their efforts to promote tourism:
"Tourism activity started in Sudan since the dawn of independence with the country's meager resources being carefully and honestly directed to reflect Sudan's splendid tourist image to the outside world."
It is, at its very least, a shame. Because in the light of these recent news stories, I'll be travelling elsewhere.
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