saudi-retardia

A Lebanese television presenter has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia after two different Saudi courts found him guilty of “sorcery.” Oh hey, Saudi Arabia! Welcome to the 17th century! See you guys in 400 years!

Ali Hussain Sibat (former host of a popular call-in show that aired on Sheherazade, a Beirut based satellite TV channel), who is 48 and has five children, would predict the future on his show and give out advice to his audience.

[His] attorney, May El Khansa, who is in Lebanon, tells CNN her client was arrested by Saudi Arabia’s religious police (known as the Mutawa’een) and charged with sorcery while visiting the country in May 2008. Sibat was in Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic religious pilgrimage known as Umra. [CNN]

Sibat appealed the death sentence, but the court of appeals wisely upheld the initial judgment. Because let’s face it, predicting the future and giving advice on TV is some A-1, punishable-by-death sorcery.

…Out of curiosity, exactly when can we drop the pretense of  ”respecting other cultures” and just say, “Okay, that’s enough. We gave you stone-age jackasses like 800,000 chances, and all you did was get pissed off at everyone and hit technology with rocks.”? Is now too soon? How about next week?