A report commissioned by Amnesty International says – entirely unsurprisingly – that further lashes to Raif Badawi would cause permanent damage. Ludovica Iaccino gives the details.
Now, a medical expert from from the charity Freedom from Torture has warned in a report commissioned by Amnesty International that more lashes are likely to cause permanent damage.
Dr Juliet Cohen, head of doctors at Freedom from Torture, explained: “When the cane strikes, the blood is forced from the tissues beneath… Damage to the small blood vessels and individual cells causes leakage of blood and tissue fluid into the skin and underlying tissue, increasing the tension in these areas.
“The more blows are inflicted on top of one another, the more chance of open wounds being caused. This is important because they are likely to be more painful and at risk of infection, which will cause further pain over a prolonged period as infection delays the wounds’ healing.”
Which is the goal, isn’t it. Cause lots and lots of pain, and do serious and cumulative damage. Do as much harm as possible, in as visible a way as possible – do it in public, in front of a crowd, right after “prayers,” in front of The Holy Building. Make very very sure that everybody within reach of this vile regime
- hates liberals and infidels
- is terrified to say anything about anything
It’s not just the skin and muscle on the back, either.
There is also the long-term damage done to the victim’s mental health caused by flogging.
“Psychologically, flogging may cause feelings of fear, anxiety, humiliation and shame. Anticipation of the next scheduled flogging is likely to cause heightened emotions especially of fear, anxiety and difficulty sleeping… pain and fear together over a prolonged period have a deeply debilitating effect and recovery from such experiences may take considerable time,” said Cohen.
And all this is not for someone who tortured a bunch of people to death. It’s not for a murderer. It’s not for a génocidaire. It’s not for a Bernie Madoff type who stole the savings of thousands of people and left them broke. It’s for a guy who said something the rulers and the clerics dislike. That’s all. That’s all this murderous sadism is about.
Speaking to IBTimes UK, director of Amnesty UK Kate Allen said: “The world should be shocked and horrified by what’s happening in Saudi Arabia.
“The flogging is going to happen as long as Badawi’s health holds up. We are campaigning worldwide, to have this flogging stopped and to have him freed from prison. Because he is a prisoner of conscience.
“We will continue to campaign and we need to make sure that the international community raises its voice.
“There is no freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, where the government uses torture and death penalty in a shocking way and human rights are not observed.”
It’s a government of murderous sadists. It’s the Kingdom of Murderous Sadists. Sadist Arabia.
Healing is also likely to be slower because of the diabetes. But they are doing this because the only way they can hold onto their power is through fear. It’s all about maintaining power
karmacat – that’s so true. When the Catholic church stopped burning people, it started losing power, and now it has to resort to other means to keep control of its members (and everyone else, they hope, even people who are too dumb to realize the Catholic church is the only truth).