THE DARK SIDE OF SHARIA LAW

Muslims fundamentalists residing in Western nations are pushing for the imposition of Sharia law in their respective countries. Now, everything about Sharia law is not bad, but it does have its dark side when compared to contemporary Western standards. For instance, the method of stoning offenders to death is, to say the very least, cruel and unusual punishment, although that method would seem to me quite appropriate for some of our most vicious murderers.

So, here is the dark side of Sharia law:

Under Sharia law, the death penalty is applied for over 100 violent and non-violent crimes.

Crimes punishable by death include adultery, apostasy, blasphemy, drug-trafficking (soft or hard drugs), prostitution, homosexuality, sorcery, zina (sexual intercourse between partners not married to each other), individuals converting or preaching Christianity or Judaism, insulting Allah, corruption on Earth (can mean anything and everything), conspiring against the government, stealing petrol, tax evasion, and plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime.

Executions under Sharia law remain a sordid public spectacle to the loud sounds of "Allahu Akbar". The condemned are ritually humiliated by being paraded in public and insulted before being executed by beheading, hanging, shot by firing squad, or for the crime of adultery, stoned to death. Some condemned offenders are flogged in public prior to being executed.

Under strict Islamic and Sharia laws, a male adulterer is buried up to the waist with his hands tied behind his back, while a female adulteress is buried up to her neck. Spectators, usually male, then carry out the stoning by hurling rocks and stones at the offender. The stones are deliberately chosen to be large enough to cause pain, but not big enough to kill the offender in just one or two strikes. Eventually (can take up to one hour or more) the offender dies from shock due to blood loss.

In October 2008, thousands of people gathered to witness fifty Somali males stone a woman to death. Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was found guilty of extramarital intercourse by an Islamic Court in Kismayo, South Somalia and sentenced to death by stoning.

In 2004, a 16-year-old Iranian girl Atefeh Rajabi, was hanged in public with a crane in Northern Iran after being sentenced to death for allegedly having committed an ‘act incompatible with chastity’ (also known as premarital sex). Her much older male co-defendant was sentenced to 40 lashes, then released.

Under Sharia law, numerous methods of corporal punishment are applied, including human limb-amputation or decapitation and floggings. Other punishment include cutting-off the hand at the wrist for stealing, 40-80 lashes for drinking alcohol, gambling, or having premarital sex.