A young man in Saudi Arabia is less than a month away from being beheaded for his part in a school yard brawl that ended with the death of an 18 year old student. Mohamed Kohail, who is a Canadian citizen, is only a few days from the chopping block, and Canada is seriously dragging it’s feet, and has refused to demand clemency, or take any diplomatic action.
This is all part of the Conservative Administration’s new policy of no longer seeking clemency for citizens that are sentenced to death in countries that have an elected and democratic government. In other words, if you are convicted and sentenced to death in, say, Montana, you’re on your own.
There was a time not so long ago that the Canadian Government actually took a stand behind its commitment against the death penalty. The reversal of this policy is more evidence that the very conservative element of government now in power has no real problem with death sentences. Their failure to condemn this practice is a raining endorsement, and seriously contradicts the majority’s attitude towards the practice.
This is now exacerbated by the fact that Canada has dragged its feet on this issue in order to avoid poor diplomatic conditions with Saudi Arabia, since they would essentially put it in a different category than “democratic countries” according to the new policy.
So disastrous is this new attitude that we are now collectively responsible for the deaths of any citizen traveling abroad who is sentenced to death. We are, through proxy, part of the mechanism which will bring the end of this young man’s life. Forget the fact that his trial lasted on 90 minutes, or that the judge didn’t even allow any testimony on behalf of the defendant. The issue is how this country deals with the protection of its citizens according to our laws and values. The Conservative government, in their growing ambition to usurp the humanitarian values of this nation, have proven once again why they are not proper representatives of this country. Shame on you, Mr. Harper, for making me a part of this mechanism of death.
Ryan Harkness and Jacob Fortin are both writers and comedians, as well full time godless heathens.
Gotta agree w/ you on this one Jacob. If a country is going to be against the death penalty, it should at least stand up for it.
This brings up the delicious irony of the religious right.
You cannot abort a 16-cell fetus because that would be killing, yet the death penalty is endorsed, especially for homosexuals.
Prove a 16-cell fetus isn’t alive. Don’t want to rehash the arguement (but I would!), so see the comment section on the podcast about sex if you want to see the dialogue.
Not all religious people endorse the death penalty, there’s a lot of debate about it, and being homosexual isn’t against the law, so why would a religious person want them put to death. If God wanted every person who sinned put to death immediately, there’d be a really long line (”For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). I think the point that is trying to be made is that the law in canada is not being upheld. If canada wants to not have the death penalty, it should stand up when one of its citizens is put to it.
This story is insane. How could your government sit aside while this young man waits to die? I can’t understand it. I guess if it weren’t for the fact that he is stuck in an Islamic country, he would be on his way home. It is sad that we here on this side of the earth are very afraid of Islam, so we will not even try to negotiate with them. For that, innocent people get harmed or die.
Also, I thought you all would find this interesting. This is a story of an 11 year old girl in Wiscoinsin who had Diabetes. Instead of taking her to the hospital, her parents decided to pray for healing. Well, unfortunately, the young girl died.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_on_re_us/daughter_s_death_prayer;_ylt=As3PJQu4NytyNmfsyC3gi_I7Xs8F
We should all send PM Harper tiny novelty guillitines. Or maybe swizzle-stick swords. With little notes saying something like, “Enjoy your Canada, complete with proxy executions!”
Steve Harper is an ass.
Tough shit! if you dont want to be beheaded or put to death then you should’ve keeped your ass in Canada. The parents are idiots for leaving the greatest country ever concieved.Oh Canada!
Ben first of all a one cell organism is alive. So it doesn’t matter if it’s 16 cells or 16 million.
Second animals are living, why do people kill them… for food. And I bet your no vegetarian.
And if you are vegetarian, well plants and trees, etc. are all also living creatures, so basically killing them should also be “immoral” in your view. But why kill them? So we can live, for food.