British royals surrender to Saudis

[Sava]

Discuss.

[Sava]

also, imagine if Obama did this

[Berzerker]

no

[Sava]

please?

[Berzerker]

alright, looks like Lawrence of Arabia returning after 40 years

[Sava]

yay

[Aeson]

Yes!

[Serb]

Discuss.

In 1928, the Saudi judicial board advised Muslim judges to look for guidance in two books by the Hanbalite jurist Marʿī ibn Yūsuf al-Karmī al-Maqdisī (d.1033/1624). Liwat (sodomy) is to be "treated like fornication, and must be punished in the same way. If muḥṣan(i.e. having had legal intercourse) and free, one must be stoned to death, while a free bachelor must be whipped 100 lashes and banished for a year." Sodomy is proven either by the perpetrator confessing four times or by the testimony of four trustworthy Muslim men, who have been eye witnesses to the act. If there are fewer than four witnesses, or if one of them is not upstanding, they are all to be chastised with 80 lashes for slander.^[4]
It is unclear how many people have been executed for sodomy. Some of the official news reports on persons convicted of sodomy seem to provide conflicting opinions.
In 2000 the Saudi government reported that it had sentenced nine Saudi men to extensive prison terms with lashing for engaging incross-dressing and homosexual relations.^[5] That same year the government executed three Yemeni male workers for homosexuality and child molestation.^[6]
In April 2005, the government convicted over a hundred men of homosexuality, but none were sentenced to be executed. All those men were given prison sentences with flogging because they were at a private party that was either a same-sex wedding ceremony or a birthday party.^[7] Yet not long after, a gay foreign couple was sentenced to death for homosexuality and allegedly killing a man who was blackmailing them for homosexuality.^{[citation needed]}
In May 2005, the government arrested 92 men for homosexuality, who were given sentences ranging from fines to prison sentences of several months and lashings. Likewise, on 7 November 2005 Riyadh police raided what the Saudi press called a "beauty contest for gay men" at al-Qatif. What became of the five men arrested for organizing the event is not known.^[8]
In October 2007, British human rights activists protested recent reports that the Saudi government was sending British mosques material urging the killing of gays and subjugation of women.
Persons caught living in the kingdom illegally are often accused of other crimes, involving illegal drugs, pornography, prostitution and homosexuality. Several such police crackdowns were reported in 2004 – 2005.^[9] Another similar raid in 2008, netted Filipino workers arrested on charges of alcohol and gay prostitution.^[10] The Arab News article on the arrests stated, "Gay rights are not recognized in the Middle East countries and the publication of any material promoting them is banned".^[10]
International protests from human rights organizations prompted some Saudi officials within the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington D.C. to unofficially imply that their kingdom will only use the death penalty when someone has been convicted of child molestation, rape, sexual assault, murder or engaging in anything deemed to be a form of political advocacy.^[11]
In 2010, Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasir al Saud was charged with the murder of his male companion while on holiday in London. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a long prison term. According to the prosecutor, the Prince sexually and physically abused his servant as well as paid other men for sexual services.^[12]
Criminal charges are often brought by the government sanctioned Committee For Promotion Of Virtue and The Prevention Of Vice. For example. In 2010, a 27-year-old Saudi man was sentenced to five years in prison, 500 lashes of the whip, and a SR50,000 fine after appearing in an amateur gay video online allegedly taken inside a Jeddah prison. According to an unnamed government source, “The District Court sentenced the accused in a homosexuality case that was referred to it by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai’a) in Jeddah before he was tried for impersonating a security man and behaving shamefully and with conduct violating the Islamic teachings.” The case started when the Hai’a’s staff arrested the man under charges of practicing homosexuality. He was referred to the Bureau for Investigation and Prosecution, which referred him to the District Court.
Even government officials are not immune from criminal sanctions. A gay Saudi diplomat named Ali Ahmad Asseri applied for asylum in the United States after the Saudi government discovered his sexuality.^[13]
Although most of the recent reports of someone being executed for homosexuality, often add other charges to the offense, typically theft, rape or murder. For example, a gay Pakistani was executed for homosexuality and murder in 2013^[14]
Right to privacy[edit]

The Saudi Constitution does not provide for a right to privacy. The government can, with a court order, search homes, vehicles, places of business and intercept private communications. People living in the kingdom should assume that communications can be seized by the government for evidence in a criminal trial.
Discrimination and civil rights[edit]

Saudi Arabia has no laws against discrimination or hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Advocacy for LGBT rights is illegal within the kingdom and only the underground Green Party of Saudi Arabia has publicly supported LGBT-rights as part of its human rights platform.
The required exit and entry visa paperwork does not ask people about their sexual orientation, as it does their nationality, sex, religion and marital status. No same-sex marriage,domestic partnership or civil union has any legal standing in the nation and may be used as evidence to initiate criminal proceedings.
In 2011, Mirel Radoi, a Romanian football player who plays for the Saudi Alhilal Club, was fined 20,000 Saudi Riyals and suspended for two matches after calling a Saudi Arabian football player, Hussein Abdul Ghani, who plays for Nasr Club, gay. The public comment, intended as an insult, was highly controversial and generated quite a bit of coverage in the Saudi press, including the refusal of Hussein Abdul Ghani to shake hands with Mirel Radoi after a later game.^[15]
In 2013, the Gulf Cooperative Countries, which Saudi Arabia is a member, announced plans to ban LGBT foreigners from entering Gulf countries. The ban would reportedly being enforced through some type of test [3].
Censorship[edit]

The Saudi government censors all forms of communications for themes deemed to be offensive to the royal family or Islam. This includes all newspapers, magazines, comic books, advertisements, film, television broadcasts, Internet webpages, CDs, VHSs, DVDs, cassette tapes, and all video or computer software that is sold in the kingdom. This includes people bringing in such material into the kingdom, even if it is for personal use.
Royal decrees, i.e. Royal Decree for Printed Material and Publications of 1982, regulate and censor journalist, media content as well as the distribution of media content within the kingdom,^[16] with fines and imprisonment for violators. Since the 1990s, Saudi newspapers and other publications have been permitted to make occasional reference to LGBT themes, often in terms of criminal law or the number of people infected with AIDS-HIV in the kingdom. However, sodomy, homosexuality and cross-dressing are only spoken of as sign of immorality, criminality, disease, defect or Western decadence.^[17] No endorsement of gay rights is permitted.
Public movie theaters have been unofficially banned since the early 1980s, although there is some public discussion about lifting this ban,^[18] with a four-day film festival being allowed to exist.^[19] Home movies, including VHS and DVDs, are allowed, if they have been censored, and sold in many stores. However, Saudi Customs agents do keep a list of films that are not permitted to enter the kingdom, and will be confiscated.
Satellite television exists in a legal gray area. It used to be illegal, although the ban was often ignored and recent polling data suggests that over ninety percent of Saudi households have satellite television.^[20] While it is still technically illegal, the government has started up its own satellite stations, and has been in the works to develop a pan-Arab censorship policy to crack down on live talk shows and other programming that features controversial political discussions and debates.
The Saudi government has frequently blocked Internet users in the kingdom from accessing web pages that deal with LGBT political or social issues, even if they are not pornographic. These blocks are sometimes temporarily removed due to international criticism.^[21]
In 2001, Saudi teacher and playwright Muhammad Al-Suhaimi was charged with promoting homosexuality and after a trial was sentenced to prison. In 2006, he was given a pardon and allowed to resume teaching.^[22]
In 2010, a twenty-seven-year-old Saudi man was charged with homosexuality and impersonating a police officer when he posted a comical video of himself online, where he discusses popular culture, shows off his chest hair and flirts with the camera man. He was sentenced to a year in prison, with 1,000 lashes, and ordered to pay a fine of 5,000 rials (US $1,333).[23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia

THE WEST AT ITS BEST!
Double talking motherf*ckers.

[100% Wolf]

Saudi Arabia is terrible but at least it's not a Soviet GULag.

[Sava]

black text cannot be seen if you use the dark theme

unless you highlight it

which i'm not going to do


blah blah blah Russia sucks

[Felch]

According to Pew, Americans are more likely to be unfavorable towards Saudi Arabia than towards Russia.

The comments in that link are ridiculous. If you ever wanted to know what real retards sound like, check them out.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Also, Prince Charles actually looks pretty badass there. Nice sword

[Main_Brain]

You should see his sexy Saber Dance

[molly bloom]

He looks much the same as he does when he performs his awkward older man dancing badly routine when visiting African Commonwealth countries- just a bit overdressed.

[Dinner]

Somebody please tell me that is a photoshopped picture or at least a dress up party like the one where Prince William dressed up like a Nazi.