Bloody immigrants not respecting the law

On reading up on this it would appear that in Suadi they turn a blind eye to expats drinking in their compounds but only dish this punishment out to foreigners caught doing the severest things "Anyone caught drinking outside the foreign compounds, or who brew/distill in large quantities, is liable to harsh penalties. This can include time in prison and/or a public flogging. Those who supply alcohol to Saudis are liable to the harshest penalties. Foreigners have been known to receive as many as 500 lashes for alcohol trading."

So i suspect this guy was doing a bit more than a few bottles for his own consumption. So for all those on here saying this shouldn't happen or be allowed to happen, what would your stance be if this was a British ex pat who was caught smuggling heroin into a country which had a harsh punishment for it? Would they still be the outcry that he should have leniency?
 
Ahleckz said:
It's this quote which stood out for me:



Sorry to be *that* guy, but it does seem indicative of today's societal inability to take any personal responsibility for your actions. I have no idea why she seems to think that the UK authorities should step in and help someone who broke the law in another country. Are we expected to bow down to foreign powers if we have imprisoned their citizens? I don't think so.

Say what you want about the punishment being inappropriate, or overly harsh but it's very well known that alcohol is prohibited in Saudi Arabia. You break the rules, you get punished. It shouldn't then be the responsibility of the British state to bail you out.
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The issue here is that it's not just lashes, its effectively a death sentence. He's 74(?), had cancer three times apparently and has asthema, they may as well just shoot him.
 
Freakbro said:
But it's only petty to you.

It's a drug, a drug that is illegal over there. I bet you have no qualms about the death penalty for drug traffickers in SE Asia, or people being imprisoned for possession of drugs, they know the rules right? They shouldn't have taken the chance.
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I don't believe in cultural relativism. I'd approve of the killing of drug traffickers in SE Asia only because I'd approve of killing drug traffickers in the UK.

I am fine with a British person being fairly penalised for breaking local laws and customers. But it's unconscionable to me that an OAP could receive three hundred odd lashes for having some wine. We should not tolerate that.
 
I hope he doesn't get the lashes but why on earth would you choose to move there and break a law like that. Baffled.
 
He's an oil exec so there for the money.

Suppose it could have been much worse "Those put to death included children under the age of 18 at the time of the offence, and disabled people.
Since 1985, the state has executed at least 2,208 people, 48.5 per cent of whom were foreign nationals. "
 
Moses said:
Backwards, medieval state which we should not have a special relationship with. I know we need to trade with distasteful states generally, but we shouldn't be selling them weapons and getting involved in prison services, even though if we didn't sell them weapons someone else would.



He has been in prison for a year. It's not as though he's been in a cell overnight and is now kicking off. And letting him off the flogging, or changing that to extra time in prison, wouldn't be completely bowing down to us.
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Except when he was sentenced 14 months ago, the sentence was a year in jail plus 360 lashes.
 
Thompson_NCL said:
I don't believe in cultural relativism. I'd approve of the killing of drug traffickers in SE Asia only because I'd approve of killing drug traffickers in the UK.
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You say you don't believe in cultural relativism

I am fine with a British person being fairly penalised for breaking local laws and customers. But it's unconscionable to me that an OAP could receive three hundred odd lashes for having some wine. We should not tolerate that.
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But then exhibit relativism in your next statement...make your mind up.

Just because 'having some wine' is no big deal for us, it is for the country he was in, he knew that and broke the law of the land.

He's not getting an unduly harsh sentence within their law, it's a standard application. It's only harsh in our view if you apply relativism, which you don't believe in.
 
I work closely with the Saudis, they are a funny bunch tbh. Before you moan, I work at educating the nation which is only way things will progress.

However, this guy made a massive error in judgement. He has been there long enough and will have known, heard of or even seen public punishment for crimes. He should NEVER have done what he did. He was chancing his luck and it ran out. Dems the rules.

Also, just because he has been ill many times doesn't mean he should be punished any less. For sure it will be heart breaking for his family but he should have thought of that before he was a silly old man.

I am fed up of people using someones health or history to remove the limit on their punishment. I don't agree with this kind of punishment which is why I wouldn't put myself in a position to get punished.

Oil exec in KSA, paying no TAX. he had a sweet deal, shame he messed it up
 
This fellow has been there 25 years so it should be hardly a surprise to him if he got caught peddling. I say peddling as someone has already pointed out the punishments are harsher if you are some sort of bootlegger or selling to the locals and his sentence says to me he may have been upto no good.

He survived 3 bouts of cancer so a lashing (no, not that kind) will be no sweat.

He rolled the dice and lost on this occasion
 
Freakbro said:
You say you don't believe in cultural relativism
But then exhibit relativism in your next statement...make your mind up.
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No, I am not. It is not cultural relativism to expect individual Britons to obey local laws and customs when abroad, that is just pragmatism.

It would be cultural relativism to pretend that Saudi customs and laws should be regarded as equal to our own when they are clearly not. And when they do something we'd regard as deeply objectionable, that is where pragmatism gets thrown out the window and we should act.
 
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the_chicco said:
Alcohol is illegal there, end of discussion. He has been living there for over 25 years, he knew the law and he has been caught. It doesn't matter whether you consider it petty or heavy handed, it is their country and it is their law. The same reason you don't try to take or consume drugs in other places like Thailand as again the punishment is severe and what some would consider 'harsh'.
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This.

He knew what he had coming if he got caught and carried on regardless.
 
Love how the thread title and OP are being edgy and trying to bait people in to being hypocritical yet everyone has unanimously said it's his own dumb fault. Lol.
 
No doubt if the guy does get whipped (BTW I believe he should) the Saudi Royal Family and other high ranking Saudi dignitaries will be toasting the event with a few bottles of Black Label Whisky.
 
As everyone says, the sentence is outrageous, and he should have been aware of the laws and accepted his fate.

However, should we stand by and watch completely ridiculous laws be carried out? We have the right to speak out and we should, not only for this guy but for others who suffer the same fate. Whether they choose to listen or not is another matter.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
However, should we stand by and watch completely ridiculous laws be carried out? We have the right to speak out and we should, not only for this guy but for others who suffer the same fate. Whether they choose to listen or not is another matter.
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Where would you draw the line ? Law and Order surely is down to each individual country.
 
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