Sheikh Saleh Al-Luhaidan,

Story

The head of the Saudi Judaical System issued a fatwa on a radio show declaring that the owners of TV station who broadcast material deemed inappropriate may be punished by death.

“If the evil of those who promote corruption in belief and actions cannot be held back through lesser punishments, then they can be put to death through the judicial process,” Lohaidan, head of the Supreme Judicial Council said.

The reaction to this fatwa has gained national and international reaction.

“The extremist elements will take advantage of the fatwa and start recruiting our young people to bomb the locations of such TV stations,” al-Obeikhan, who is also an adviser at the Saudi ministry of justice, was quoted as saying to the Saudi Al Jazeera newspaper.

Commentary

So this is basically old news by now but its important. Of course I followed this fatwa as it happened but decided to hold back posting it and commenting on it due to my unbalanced negative reaction to it and I didn’t want to say something that I would regret.

Plain and simple this is the most idiotic fatwa I have ever heard and a very dangerous one. I quoted part of the fatwa in the story however it might not sound as bad translated and only showing a part of it. When the fatwa in its whole and in Arabic is repeated it sounds even worse. Even though the fatwa does say that the death of the owners must be through the courts it is so open to translation that fundamentalist and terrorist organizations could use it as a support to killing and blowing up TV stations and their owners.

The truth of the matter is that the courts would never be able to prosecute any of the TV station owners let alone pass the death penalty against them as the government would never allow this. Luhidan knows this just as everybody else in Saudi Arabia knows this, so why a fatwa declaring death to TV station owners when he knows it will never happen? Clearly its a message for fundamentalist and terrorist organizations to take matters into their own hands.

Luhidan did come on TV the next day to clarify his fatwa however his explanation was complete bull s*** as it was most about how great he was and how knowledgeable and sticking to his fatwa just clarifying that it is for the Judaical system to follow it and not individuals.

Its time for Luhidan to resign and have someone with more sense take over the Judaical system.