Invitation to a beheading
YOUKEY, BILL
REPORT FROM CHOP CHOP SQUARE INVITATION TO A BEHEADING FIGHTING CRIME IN SAUDI ARABIA In the United States crime dominates news headlines and holds big-city Americans emotionally hostage. It...
...Between spectators' heads I caught glimpses of the stage upon which was soon to be played out a one-act execution...
...On one side, the Riyadh proletariat pleaded for justice at the feet of their Saudi masters...
...On its far side sat the Saudi contingent...
...I didn't want to believe that this was a religion of bloodthirsty curiosity seekers, so I assumed that most of the congregation was there out of an Islamic sense of responsibility...
...He grasped his sword with both hands, coiled his body, and lashed out at the back of the man's neck...
...The prisoner's body fell forward on top of his head...
...Prayer call was over...
...At 12:00 the chanting started, signaling the beginning of noon prayer...
...At 12:30 the chanting ceased...
...At least they don't argue with Allah in Saudi Arabia...
...A black van drove to the site and the clean-up crew debarked...
...I was sandwiched in amongst thousands of third-country nationals-Pakistanis, Indians, Sudanese, and Bangladeshis-who were pushing forward to get the best view...
...Now I know...
...Slaves to a Pol Pot, an Idi Amin, a Khadaffi, or an Ayatol-lah, the people don't have any say in the law and order process...
...Called barbaric and effective in the same breath, it is condemned by Amnesty International yet praised by many who walk the safe Saudi streets...
...That maneuver was designed to add pressure to the back of the neck and expedite the head falling forward...
...An eclectic mixture of multiple nationalities, speaking a cacophony of unintelligible languages, were all zeroing in on the same destination: the parking lot of the city's grand mosque, the place Westerners called "Chop Chop Square...
...Perhaps a little too seriously...
...He acted as if he were sedated...
...And the people don't argue with Allah...
...Their autocratic monarchy is designed to rule by edict...
...Three workers shoveled the crumpled mass of humanity into the van while two others hosed the blood off the asphalt so the parking lot would be clean for evening prayer...
...On October 15,1993, their collective thumbs were pointed down...
...The faithful followers of "the one true religion" scrambled to recover their prayer rugs and race forward for the best viewing spot...
...In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, crime is not a problem...
...Among us Westerners, the Saudis' judicial system is famous...
...BILL YOUKEY Bill Youkey, a free-lance writer, lives in Owens Cross Roads, Alabama.ross Roads, Alabama...
...It was a typical Islamic Sabbath, not unlike a typical American Sunday morning...
...It happened on October 15,1993, two years into my three-year tour as a marketing consultant in Riyadh...
...It threatens to socially gerrymander the citizenry into the "secures" and the "not secures...
...The Islamic faithful were already ten-deep surrounding the mosque parking lot that would serve as the site for the sacrament of decapitation...
...Fortunately, the police had formed an inside perimeter to keep the truly pious, or overly curious, from getting too close to the ministrations...
...There were no benedictory remarks, no lamenting mourners...
...As the custodian of two of Islam's holy shrines and leader of the faith in the Middle East, the King of Saudi Arabia's religious authority is total...
...Because the leaders' actions are legitimized by a higher power...
...Except, instead of a kickoff, the Middle Eastern "fans" wanted to see a head chopped off...
...I had heard all the stories of beheadings and maimings...
...I had the opportunity to view Saudi justice in action...
...The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may be uniquely suited to beheading as a means of maintaining law and order...
...around, unable to walk on his own...
...Dignified, white robed, headdressed gentlemen, these spectators were in sharp contrast to the raucous rabble on my side...
...sleeping late, reading the paper, drinking tea, and watching TV...
...But dictatorships are common in so many third-world countries...
...Three years that seemed like a lifetime...
...It also must have been the signal for the headliner to make his appearance, for out sprang the executioner, proudly brandishing a gleaming scimitar that had probably been passed down to him from his father...
...The scene was a microcosm of the classic societal struggle between the powerful and the powerless...
...It was over...
...So why is the Kingdom different...
...Riyadh's citizens were relaxing...
...A convicted Pakistani heroin dealer was led to the center of the square by four Saudi soldiers...
...He was docile, stumbling "Looking back now, I see that being alive was the most dangerous thing that ever happened to me...
...By 11:30, however, downtown Riyadh had metamorphosed...
...Saudi Arabia's system of justice is born of Islamic doctrine and nurtured by a royal family that takes its paternal responsibilities seriously...
...Their frenzied excitement reminded me of game day at the football field with the loyal fans scurrying from all 360 radii to see the kickoff...
...Riyadh is not a beautiful city, but when its 1 million aspiring NASCAR winners are off the roads and the religious police are resting between prayer calls (undoubtedly gearing up for another big weekend of expatriate bashing), it's a peaceful place...
...The condemned man knelt on the pavement while the guards helped him pull his shirt over his head and down to his shoulders...
...But until that Friday, I never knew how many of the stories were true and how many were the embellishment of an attention-getting headline...
...He positioned himself upstage, allowing the victim to face Mecca, but still affording the audience an unobstructed view...
...on the other, the royal family had "the power of the thumb" to save or extinguish lives...
...However, the zeal with which the assembled citizenry relished that responsibility was frightening...
...For punishment to be an effective deterrent, it must be witnessed...
...I thought how ironic it would be if, in their desire to be humane, these people had drugged a man about to be executed for pushing drugs...
...His actions are justified by Allah...
...If the king says "off with your head," the condemned man kneels down and leans forward...
...I had heard of a case when they pardoned a couple of Western evangelists one year at Christmas time, but that was unusual...
...11:00, Friday morning, October 15,1993...
Vol. 122 • February 1995 • No. 3
