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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Sudan sez they have to carry out barbaric sentences 'cuz the Koran sez so... |
| 2002-08-26 |
| Sudan has rejected pleas to overturn death sentences on 88 people convicted of involvement in a bloody tribal clash despite pleas from rights group Amnesty International. The clash between the al-Muaalia and Reizagat tribes in May left more than 50 dead in western Sudan. A special court heard the case and in July sentenced 88 people to die by hanging or crucifixion. Ofergawdsake! Sudanese Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin said the government, which imposes Islamic sharia law, would not overturn the sentences because the death penalty was sanctioned by the Koran, the Muslim holy book. "It is part of our beliefs. Issues where there is a definitive text we have no choice but to abide by them," Yassin was quoted as saying by the daily al-Rai al-Aam. "It definitively sez, right there in the Koran, someplace or other, that we have to be ignorant and barbaric. We'd like to be civilized, but we have no choice..." In a statement on its Web site, Amnesty said the convicts had not received proper representation and that two of them were under the age of 18. It said the convicts had two more appeals. Meanwhile, they're setting up the crosses and the headsman's sharpening his scimitar... The tribal clash in the western state of Southern Darfur broke out after two al-Muaalia tribesmen killed a member of the Reizagat tribe in an argument at a market place. It's that "religion of peace" thing... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Joe 2002-08-27 07:07:42 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Steve White 2002-08-26 15:14:20 |