Australian man given 75 lashes in Saudi jail

Australian man Mansor Almaribe returned home earlier today after being arrested for blasphemy in Saudi Arabia whilst praying with fellow Shi’ite Muslims on the Hajj pilgrimage to Medina. Religious police apparently detained him for offending companions of the prophet of Mohammad in the Sunni majority country.

Mr Almaribe was forced to accept the 75 lashes or face a further 425 lashes and a year in jail after being convicted of blasphemy.

You know you have a mighty and all-powerful God when your country (let alone religion) requires the presence of religious police, and punishment for committing petty and harmless crimes of supposed blasphemy. Why not just leave it to your God to do the punishing later in the present or afterlife? Surely it’s blasphemous to believe you need to step in to protect your God?

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Saudi women able to vote in 2015

Saudi Arabian women have been given the right to vote as well as run in future municipal elections. However, it’s not mandatory and, as is common place in the country, the majority of men will undoubtedly deny their wives and daughters the ability to do either of these things.

It also seems a little ironic and bizarre that women would be given the ability to vote and run in elections and yet are still unable to drive cars or be alone in public without a male. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great step in the right direction. However small the steps are at least they’re forwards.

This is all obviously a simple peace offering by the country in the face of numerous arab uprisings in surrounding countries within the Middle East, as well as sustained pressure from Western countries with which Saudi Arabia has countless corporate ties. Let’s just hope this step in the right direction is along the path to equality for women in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East.

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