Letter to Prince Charles, 11th January, 2015
It has been reported that on Wednesday, 7thJanuary you rang Prince Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Minister of the SaudiNational Guard, to enquire about the health of the ailing and aged King Abdullah.
Having such close and personal contacts with the Saudi Royal Family, perhaps you have already urged them to overturn the draconian punishment on Raif Badawi, who on Friday, 9th January received the first fifty of one thousand lashes. He was also sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and a fine of one million riyals (£175,000) for "insulting Islam". [1-BBC]
On 8th January the United States Government "call[ed]on Saudi authorities to cancel this brutal punishment and to review Badawi’s case and sentence" [2-USA], while Canada's Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development ministry appealed for clemency and mercy, clarifying that Badawi was merely "exercising his right to freedomof religion and freedom of expression" [3-CAN].
Amnesty International describe this as "a vicious act of cruelty which is prohibited under international law" [4-AI]. However, while Article 5 of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of HumanRights declares "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment") [5-UN], Saudi Arabia has never signed this, instead preferring the Organisation of IslamicCooperation's significantly different Cairo Declaration of Human Rightsin Islam [6-OIC]. This has nothing corresponding to the spirit of the U.N.'s Article 5. Only slight comfort is to be taken from the O.I.C's Article 2(b), "It is forbidden to resort to such means as may result in the genocidal annihilation of mankind" [ibid.], while their Article 21 was sadly of no assistance to the victims massacred in Paris this week: "Taking hostages under any form or for any purpose is expressly forbidden".
Whether or not you have already appealed to the Saudi authorities for clemency, may I hereby urge you to contact them about not just a "massive carbuncle" (*) on the face of Allah the Compassionate the Merciful, but this truly malignant tumour caused by a pernicious cancer?
[1] www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-
[2] www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/
[3] www.international.gc.ca/media/
[4] www.amnesty.org/en/news/
[5] www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
[6] www.oic-oci.org/english/
(*) Prince Charles famously described an extension to London's National Gallery as a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend" -- www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
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