The UK government's concern that Somalian pirates face beheading and amputation under Islamic Law is uneducated at best and blasphemous at worst.
While the dramatic rescue of American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, recently captured by Somalian Islamic pirates, engendered relief and joy in the US, the U.K. Foreign Office, according to Times Online, instructed the Royal Navy "not to detain pirates because doing so may breach their human rights."
The Foreign Office has advised that pirates sent back to Somalia could have their human rights breached because, under Islamic law, they face beheading for murder or having a hand chopped off for theft [and that] the captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain.…
Article comments
26 - roger nowosielski
Great. Now everybody checks in incognito.
27 - roger nowosielski
Hey, Doc:
Thanks for not jumping on me the other day when I was down and out. I know you could have but didn't. I really appreciate it. And when I make it back to California, I'll visit you.
28 - Bowl of Petunias
A sign lit up saying 'Please do not press this button again.'
29 - roger nowosielski
Here's to you, Mark, for trying to correct me in that Khan does not endorse piracy (your #17) even though I was on the cautious side saying "seemingly."
"The British piracy, whatever it may have been, can be abolished and has been abolished, but the Islamic one, which of the divine nature, cannot. The imposition of its ban by the West is being reversed: Allah's divine law must prevail in the end." Khan's remark #5 in response to Iftikhar.
Now, how much more subtle need I be in order to read perhapses, ifs and maybes into this statement?
30 - roger nowosielski
I find it kind of surprising that neither the liberals nor the conservatives are checking in. Archie and Al may be asleep, and the good old H&C still in Siberia - but the liberals?
Are they afraid to be critical of Khan for the fear of being illiberal? Or in the name of political correctness?
Kudos to the BC community. I'm proud of ya.
31 - roger nowosielski
Khan,
Well, thank you for a response. Perhaps I don't understand something, by in my Western convoluted mind, I just can't seem to fathom a writer writing a piece and his personal opinion being left out of it. Unless we're talking of course about the Salman Rushdie kind of thing or Orhan Pamuk (when in exile), when your life is threatened or some other such thing. In fact, I was going to email you personally in the event it would be inappropriate to ask such questions on this public site.
So I do apologize if I've been rather forceful in this matter. Perhaps I should have been more mindful of the circumstances. And I do thank you for your response.
Respectfully,
Roger
32 - Arthur Dent
Petunias @ #28:
Well, there you go. Problem solved.
Time to visit the Nutrimatic and get a nice hot cup of something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
33 - Dr Dreadful
Roger @ #26:
I was incognito to begin with. Dr Dreadful is not the name on my California driver's license. Mwuuuahhaha.
34 - STM
At least the British were the first to change the rules of engagement in regard to the Somali pirates to allow for more aggressive measures to combat them.
That's how the Royal Marines captured these idiots in the first place.
The pirates fired at a Marines' rigid on an interdiction mission and copped a flogging for their efforts.
The naval party involved in this raid specialises in what it calls with great British understatement "non-compliant" boarding (in other words, "we might have to fight our way on board").
The officer in charge said later that by the time the Marines had fired back and got on board, the pirates were "quite compliant".
This, and the efforts of the other military in the area, including the recent rescue by the US Navy, shows there is at least now an intention to fight back.
Let's hope they keep doing so.
35 - roger nowosielski
Knah,
The link to your expanded article (see #30) got scrambled. Perhaps you can provide another one.
Thank you.
36 - M. A. Khan
Roger, Here's the correct link to my expanded essay: British Policy Towards Somali Pirates.
37 - roger nowosielski
Much obliged, Khan, and I thank you.
38 - Alex Landon
What would be the reaction if pirates killed 34 Americans and wounded over 170 other Americans in an attack on an American ship in international waters as shown here...
Why were Americans denied justice by their own country?
The answer can be found here...
The information can also be found here: What happened is beyond outrageous.
What continues to happen because a full and open investigation is denied is also beyond outrageous.
So where is the OUTRAGE?
39 - roger nowosielski
That was a very comprehensive article, Khan. I understand the touchy subject. I wish you could have published it in the first place instead of the truncated version.
40 - abdansary
M.Khan, as a Muslim and having taught maritime law for many years in a local malaysian university, I find your thesis a load of crap, quoting dogma from 'conduct against enemy during wartime' with armchair theology; fusing it with peacetime conduct where trade and commerce is paramount in Islam. Historically no other Muslim ancien regimes would have more experience dealing with piracy as the Malay archipelago. And if I remember rightly should a Sultan receive a report that so and so the pirate is on the loose and causing havoc, the Temenggong would be asked to hunt them down to be whipped in the palace grounds.
M. Khan, do read ibn arabi please.........