Saudi Arabia Judge's Sentence: Paralysis
HARRIS: So, in Saudi Arabia, a judge has sentenced a man to paralysis. He is to have his spinal cord severed. It is punishment for paralyzing another man. Let's bring in CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom. He is in Abu Dhabi. Really, Mohammed? What can you tell us about this case?</s>MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, it's another in a long line of Saudi controversial court cases that have people inside and outside Saudi Arabia shocked and outraged. Rights activists, Amnesty International has already put out a statement condemning this and asking the Saudi government not to carry this out. Saudi media has been reporting over the weekend that a judge in the northwestern province of Tabuk has sent letters to several hospitals inside Saudi Arabia asking if they could sever the spine of a man who was accused of committing a crime in which he paralyzed another man. Now, in Saudi Arabia, it's a very puritanical version of Islam that's practiced there. And there, it's the concept of an eye for an eye that still applies. Yet, rights activists there are telling me they're disgusted by this, they don't know if a judge has ever quite gone this far. But you have to remember that in Saudi Arabia, judges are given wide discretion to practice the law, to interpret Islam, and to dole out the kind of punishments they think is appropriate. The way that this is being reported is really showing that there's a shift that's going on in Saudi Arabia. There's a societal struggle. The fact that there have been so many controversial verdicts the past few years, whether it's the case of a 19-year-old girl who was raped and then sentenced to more punishment than some of her attackers -- she was eventually pardoned -- or whether it was the case of a man who was sentenced to being a sorcerer and was supposed to beheaded -- and that case is still pending -- it's being reported on, it's being talked about. People are expressing outrage. And it's showing there is a real struggle going on between the people who want to modernize in Saudi Arabia and the progressives, and the hard-liners. And the modern -- the people who want to modernize, the progressives over there, are really trying to make sure that these kind of Draconian verdicts, what they consider to be Draconian verdicts, stop -- Tony.</s>HARRIS: Let's leave it there. I don't know what else to say about this one. All right. Mohammed, appreciate it. Thank you.