This is not Sharia law but a travesty of justice

The recent beheading of four Sri Lankans and the display of their bodies in public in Saudi Arabia has caused dismay and infuriated Sri Lankans including Muslims of this island. The authorities in Saudi Arabia and the Western mass media claimed that the executions were carried out in strict terms of the Islamic law or Sharia. This is an absolute travesty of the interpretation of the Divine Sharia law. If the Sharia is truly implemented it is the rulers and not the subjects that should be executed as they have no legal right to rule.

Under the Sharia, Islam does not permit monarchical dynastic rule and all monarchies in the Persian Gulf region including Saudi Arabia are thus illegal. The system in Saudi Arabia which is being flaunted as the Sharia is in actual fact a tribal and traditional system drawing its legitimacy from the pre-Islamic Jahili System of tribal and clannish rule.

The ruling Saudi regime which follows Wabism got its legitimacy with the help of the colonial British as the Saudis helped Britain to destabilize the Ottoman caliphate in the First World War and bring it down eventually in 1922. For this help, Britain in turn helped the Al – Saudi regime to establish itself in Arabia.

What happened in Iran in this context is relevant. The Islamic people in Iran threw out the monarch Shah as he did not have legitimacy. The people in the Persian Gulf states should also overthrow the monarchs who are sustained by the US who implement a pseudo version of the Sharia.

Under a genuine Sharia system like in Iran, the people will choose the best pious man to rule with an Islamic form of government. The Islamic government is duty bound to provide employment and welfare facilities to its citizens. If a robber is arrested and he/ she can prove that the Islamic government has failed in its duties to provide employment and welfare facilities the robber will be acquitted and the government has to provide him/her with a salary and facilities for him/her and his/her families. None of the four migrant workers E.J.Victor Corea, Panjith de Silva, Sanath Kumara and Shamila Sangeeth murdered anyone, nor was there proper inquiry into the circumstances of their robbery. Amnesty International pointed out that “court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial and take place behind closed doors…. Defendants do not have the right to formal representation by a lawyer and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress, torture or deception”. The whole so-called Sharia implementation in this case is a traversty of justice and has fatally victimized four of our migrant workers. It is the duty of the Rajapaksa government to pursue justice in this grave matter.

By Saybhan Samat, Rajagiriya