.... The case has demonstrated a common feature of so many fragile states: It is terribly difficult for common sense to prevail.
Once has an allegation has been made and a police report filed, the justice system takes on a creaking momentum of its own. There are rules to be followed. Forms to be filed. Procedures to complete.
[A COMMENT] "He has played the system brilliantly, using every arcane corner of Sudanese law to keep his sister from choosing how to live her life."
Far from it, all he has done is to use the basic, universally agreed provisions of Sharia law as implemented throughout the Islamic world for the last 1400 years and now in literally dozens - the number is growing constantly - of countries worldwide,
1) The child of any Muslim parent remain be a Muslim no matter how she is raised, so Meriam is guilty of apostasy - penalty, death by stoning.
2) The head of every Muslim family is the eldest male - in this case, Meriam's brother now that her father is dead.
3) A Muslim woman cannot travel without the permission of her family head.
4) Marriages between Christian men and Muslim women are illegal because Christians are inherently inferior (but sex between Muslim men and Christian women is sanctified by rule 1 above.)
5) Since her marriage is illegal Meriam is guilty of adultery - penalty death by stoning. She also still belongs to her brother, not to her "husband"...
6) ...so in addition to her crimes of apostasy and adultery Meriam is committing a further crime by attempting to travel without her brother's permission. Penalty is imprisonment.
All of these points rise naturally from Sharia law. Of course they are brutal, mediaeval and inhumane - that is what Sharia law is and must always be. Confusion only arises when people like Rob Crilly here, Rowan Williams, Prince Charles, Baroness Warsi, Barak Obama and so on persistently lie to us about the real nature of Sharia by pretending that it can somehow be made compatible with the modern world. [The Telegraph] Read more
