No matter how you slice it and dice it”, sharia law is brutal, inhumane and against everything that our liberal Western democracies stand for. There is nothing just in a bunch of fundamustards deciding your fate, period. KGS
Sharia execution urged for Mubarak
Marie Colvin From: The Australian August 08, 2011 12:00AM
THE spokesman for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which portrays itself as a moderate Islamic movement, has called for execution and hand amputations if the Mubaraks are found guilty of murder and corruption.
“If a man has stolen millions of the state’s money, the penalty is that I must cut off his hand,” said Mahmoud Ghuzlan, a professor of biochemistry at Zagazig University. “There is no argument. These are God’s words.”
The group, banned for half a century, was legalised only after the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak.
Professor Ghuzlan said the penalty of amputation, mandated under sharia law, should apply to his sons Gamal — the younger, who was being groomed as heir — and Alaa, a businessman.
In a scene that transfixed the nation last week, the two brothers, both charged with profiteering, stood in court as their father lay on a trolley next to them.
The senior Mubarak, charged with responsibility for the deaths of about 850 protesters killed by his security forces, periodically craned his neck forward to peer from the defendants’ cage out at the court.
Professor Ghuzlan had no sympathy. Mr Mubarak should be hanged if convicted, although “beheading by the sword” would be more traditional, he said.
He sought to paint sharia as a merciful alternative to Egypt’s current legal system, saying a thief who stole only to feed his family would not suffer amputation.
Despite his words, Muslim Brotherhood rule would evidently be harsh. Adulterers would be whipped, alcohol banned, men and women separated in university classes and pre-marital sex and same-sex relationships would be forbidden.
The $64 question is: will Egyptians like this?
I think not.
The original Tahrir Square uprising was caused by a surplus of homeless people in Cairo. They had nothing to lose and nothing better to do. Assembling to gripe about the Mubarak government sure seemed like a good idea at the time.
I don’t see the Ikhwan doing much to move Egypt’s economy forward in a manner to accommodate these poor homeless people. Until Egypt finds a leader with some financial savvy who can move the economy forward, I don’t see the Ikhwan being successful in the long run.
The Sadat/Mubarak regime was successful for many years because they made economic progress on three big fronts:
1. They re-opened the Suez Canal (via the peace treaty with Israel)
2. They commandeered petrochemical business (via the peace treaty with Israel)
3. They secured American foreign aid (via the peace treaty with Israel)
Now the Ikhwan wants to un-do at least two out of three of these items. While the Egyptian Army might not have a lot of economic geniuses running the show, I think they know that the Ikhwan’s plans project a bleak economic future for Egypt.
Saudi Arabia gets away with this Sharia Law business because they have the word’s largest pool of oil that can be produced for $1.50/barrel. They can subsidize Sharia nonsense for a long time. Egypt can’t do that and the Saudis can’t subsidize a country of Egypt’s population while maintaining tranquility at home.
I’m not making any predictions and I’m not getting in a panic about the Ikhwan. They don’t have practical answers to the problems that caused the Mubarak government to fall. If the Ikhwan steps into Mubarak’s dog-doo (i.e. the sagging Egyptian economy), it will stick to their feet and they’ll likely be unable to clean it off. From what they’re promising, the Ikhwan will only make it worse.
If the Egyptian ruling junta doesn’t understand what’s at stake, I’m sure there are some retired Turkish military officers who can explain it to them.