Relevance: Prelims: International
Context:
Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a punishment for crime
About:
Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment, according to a document from the kingdom’s top court.
The decision, will mean the punishment will be replaced by prison sentences, fines or a mixture of both.
The decision is an extension of the human rights reforms introduced under the direction of King Salman and the direct supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Flogging has been applied to punish a variety of crimes in Saudi Arabia. Without a codified system of law to go with the texts making up sharia, or Islamic law, individual judges have the latitude to interpret religious texts and come up with their own sentences.
Rights groups have documented past cases in which Saudi judges have sentenced criminals to flogging for a range of offences, including public intoxication, harrassment and extramarital sex.
Other forms of corporal and capital punishment, such as amputation for theft or beheading for murder and terrorism offences, have not yet been outlawed.
The Saudi supreme court said the latest reform was intended to “bring the kingdom into line with international human rights norms against corporal punishment”.
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