| I consider this particular battle to be more important than any the Paleostinians are fighting at the moment... |
 For a man just sentenced to 200 lashes and four months in jail by an Islamic court, Saudi academic Hamza al-Mozainy is strikingly cheerful. The diminutive, twinkle-eyed professor of linguistics was summoned by a Riyadh judge in March after an Islamist colleague said Mozainy made fun of his long beard in a newspaper article. Dismissing arguments that his court had no jurisdiction in media cases, the judge ordered that he be flogged and jailed for two months - then doubled the punishment on the spot when Mozainy challenged his authority. "He said: OK. Instead of 75 lashes and two months, 200 lashes and four months. And you are forbidden from writing for newspapers," Mozainy said.
But the 57-year-old professor is confident he will not serve his punishment. Just hours after the verdict, Crown Prince Abdullah intervened in this latest clash between liberals and religious scholars in the strict Muslim state. "I left the court and Prince Abdullah issued a strong letter saying this judgment is null, void and baseless and the court does not have jurisdiction over this case," Mozainy said in his small office in King Saud University.
| That's the same thing he told the judge, before the judge doubled his sentence... |
Abdullah's ruling has not been made public but liberals have interpreted it to mean that Islamic sharia courts would not have jurisdiction to try media cases.
| Meaning that the tight turban crowd won't be allowed to paw through writings looking for the least hint of criticism of themselves... strictly in the name up protecting Islam, of course... |
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