Sir, – "A Saudi court sentenced Ali al-Nimr to be decapitated by a sabre-wielding executioner in a public square, and for his body to be publicly displayed on a cross until his flesh rots" (Lara Marlowe, "Outrage spreads over Saudi public beheading sentence", September 25th).
So what are we to make of the announcement that Faisal Bin Hassan Trad, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the UN in Geneva, was elected as chairman of a panel of independent experts on the UN Human Rights Council in June, and that in May, just prior to the appointment, the Saudi government advertised for eight extra executioners?
There are long-standing links between Saudi royals and the toxic Wahhabi puritanism that is driving the expanding mayhem behind the rising tide of refugees.
Is it not time some “western” political leaders took notice?
Or should we, as many advocate, escalate the bombing of the symptoms of our own geopolitical ethical decay? – Yours, etc,
D FLINTER,
Headford,
Co Galway.