If a non-Saudi runs over a Saudi (in road accident), non-Saudi has to pay HUGE penalty while its not same if a Saudi hits (in road accident) a non-Saudi
PM....like i said, examples like these define the mental setup of a society, not legal. The above statement is not a saudi law. Its an observation by someone at best. Everyone here is trying to mix and match two different faculties.
In New Jersey, USA, it was exposed just a couple years ago that State troopers were specifically instructed by their superiors to pick out black motorists and search their cars....racial profiling.....something that is illegal according to the law...yet it went on unabated for so many years. Something which resulted in the chief of police having to resign, once the documents were revealed that spoke of this authority been given to the officers.
So if we are talking about morality, you will find rotten apples all over the world. This thread was about a specific law....ZZ wnated to know if by law a muslim would get any lesser punishment for killing a non muslim as would a non muslim for killing a muslim...and the answer is No.
We routinely allow our personal dislike for the social setup of arabia to cloud our judgement on such matters. Its not fair when someone does it to us.....it shouldnt be fair when we do it to them.
[This message has been edited by Akif (edited July 10, 2001).]
The only problem I have with this argument is that while in New Jersey a superior may issue such an instruction and be liable for a massive class-action law-suit and potential termination and embarassment, in Saudi Arabia, there is no accountability.
And furthermore, if it is a one-off instance where a policeman discriminated against a non-Saudi, it can be excused. As you said, rotten bad apples can be found anywhere.
But if this is an unwritten rule applied CONSISTENTLY across the board (to discriminate Non-Saudis against Saudis) then it becomes a valid concern. Because then it is no longer a single rotten apple, but a way of life, where a non-Saudi is treated differently for a crime compared to a Saudi (racial profiling or superiority, whatever).
[quote]
Originally posted by Akif:
** But thats simply because the whole country is run on Islamic Shariat laws. **
[/quote]
I would disagree. The whole country is not run on Islamic Shariat laws; rather laws are applied selectively as suits the government to attempt to appear legitimate. At the end of the day, the goverment of Saudi is a Monarchy; a system that is very very far from the Islamic ideal of rule by mutual consultation. With the highest law in the country, that of governance, being rotten, the rest of the legal system of Saudi becomes highly suspect. For example Saudi Arabia's legal systems accepts confessions extracted under torture, whereas Islam forbids torture and only permits confessions given freely.
Prejudice persists in saudi beaurucracy just as it does in any other society. There may be less, or no accountability compared to say, the US, but on the same token, the accountability process doesnt eradicate the prejudicial setup in anyway. So in essence, the presence of the ability to slap a lawsuit on anyone is nothing more than a smokescreen in my view, if it doesnt in effect get rid of a problem.
Mad scientist..
Who is to define proper shariat laws? are we scholars enough to be able to refute the current laws in saudi arabia? dont think so.
For example Saudi Arabia's legal systems accepts confessions extracted under torture, whereas Islam forbids torture and only permits confessions given freely
These are tidbits fed to the world by the western media, and we for some reason, always choose to believe them blindly. Take one look at the 'free' judiciary in the US, and see how many murderers, rapists, crooks and drug dealers get off scot free based on stupid little technicalities.
Why, in the presence of all these reciprocals, do we always choose to target the damn arabs, the stupid saudis, the idiot sheikhs, or whatever else u wanna call them, and ignore whatever goes on in the rest of the world?