re:rembrandt! - this is how saudi arabia treats au
Here is the original story for your perusal:
300 lashings for Aussie By Charisse Ede and Rob Taylor 04Mar03
THE family of an Australian man jailed in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to public floggings every fortnight has made an emotional appeal for the Federal Government to intervene.
Robert Thomas, 55, a long-term resident of Saudi Arabia, was arrested in June last year and jailed for a theft committed by his wife, a Filipino nurse who was caught stealing hospital equipment for her own country. Under Saudi Arabia's strict system of Sharia law, Mr Thomas, an anaesthetic technician, was found guilty of association with the crime.
He was sentenced to 16 months' jail and 300 lashings. That sentence was currently being carried out in fortnightly blocks, with Mr Thomas being beaten 50 times every two weeks with a cane.
His daughter Sarah Munro said she believed her father was being punished because of the current standoff in the Middle East over Iraq and anger in Islamic countries over US policy towards Baghdad.
She said her father had been refused a pardon by Saudi authorities during the religious months of Ramadan and she called for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to do more to help.
Ms Munro said she feared for her father's safety in jail and the Government should help him get an early release.
"I believe if the Australian Embassy (in Saudi Arabia) steps up and goes to bat for him, he's more likely to be sent home in June, rather than November," she told AAP.
"He's already seen one riot occur in the food hall and he's suffering at the moment from varicose veins.
"And because he's worked in hospitals there he doesn't trust the country's health system. They've offered him pain relief in a cream, but he won't take anything more than that.
"It just makes you feel like this person that you look up to, to be the strength in your life, and then that's just taken away from them.
"I just can't imagine what he's going through."
A DFAT spokeswoman said Australian diplomats in Riyadh had made representations on Mr Thomas' behalf.
"Australia regards caning as a cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment, and a violation of internationally-accepted human rights standards," she said.
"We have made this opposition known to countries which use the practice, including Saudi Arabia."
She said Australian officials had spoken with Saudi authorities and were also in contact with Mr Thomas' family in Australia.
Mrs Munro said her father's wife would be sent back to the Philippines after she had served her sentence, but her father was unlikely to see her again.
