BlackTerrel
09-11-2010, 04:15 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39118941/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/
A ranking Saudi diplomat told NBC News that he has asked for political asylum in the United States, saying he fears for his life if he is forced to return to his native country.
The diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, has informed U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials that Saudi officials have refused to renew his diplomatic passport and effectively terminated his job after discovering he was gay and was close friends with a Jewish woman...
...Asseri’s application could present an especially awkward dilemma for the Obama administration, which has actively sought Saudi support for the Mideast peace process and for sanctions against Iran. The Saudi government has long been one of the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East and its ruler, King Abdullah, was warmly greeted by President Obama at the White House last June.
But the Saudis have also been sharply condemned by the U.S. State Department and human rights groups for religious and political intolerance, including the treatment of gay people. The most recent State Department human rights report on Saudi Arabia notes that, in addition to denying political and religious rights to minorities, “under Sharia (Islamic law) sexual activity between two persons of the same gender is punishable by death or flogging.”
While the report stated there was no “official discrimination” on the basis of sexual orientation in employment and housing, “sexual orientation could constitute the basis for harassment, blackmail, or other actions.” It noted that in one case reported in a Saudi newspaper three years ago, two men in the Saudi city of Al-Bahah were publicly lashed 7,000 times after being found guilty of sodomy....
I don't know which of these offenses is worse. But combined he's really just asking for it now.
A ranking Saudi diplomat told NBC News that he has asked for political asylum in the United States, saying he fears for his life if he is forced to return to his native country.
The diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, has informed U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials that Saudi officials have refused to renew his diplomatic passport and effectively terminated his job after discovering he was gay and was close friends with a Jewish woman...
...Asseri’s application could present an especially awkward dilemma for the Obama administration, which has actively sought Saudi support for the Mideast peace process and for sanctions against Iran. The Saudi government has long been one of the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East and its ruler, King Abdullah, was warmly greeted by President Obama at the White House last June.
But the Saudis have also been sharply condemned by the U.S. State Department and human rights groups for religious and political intolerance, including the treatment of gay people. The most recent State Department human rights report on Saudi Arabia notes that, in addition to denying political and religious rights to minorities, “under Sharia (Islamic law) sexual activity between two persons of the same gender is punishable by death or flogging.”
While the report stated there was no “official discrimination” on the basis of sexual orientation in employment and housing, “sexual orientation could constitute the basis for harassment, blackmail, or other actions.” It noted that in one case reported in a Saudi newspaper three years ago, two men in the Saudi city of Al-Bahah were publicly lashed 7,000 times after being found guilty of sodomy....
I don't know which of these offenses is worse. But combined he's really just asking for it now.