By Kedir Yimam
The recent beheading of three Ethiopian nationals by the Saudi government was a sad moment for all Ethiopians and for all others who believe in the goodness of all human beings. But for some of us, the event was more sad because of the misplaced emotional outburst directed against the religion of Islam rather that the perpetrators of the act. In order to have a rational discussion on the matter, we need to put the facts in order before we jump on the bandwagon of bashing Arabs and the religion of Islam. Although the view most Ethiopians have about Saudi Arabia largely depends on their religious background and personal experiences, it will help a great deal to understand what’s going on if we laid out some basic realities about the country and its rulers.
1. Saudi Arabia is a country where the Sharia Law as prescribed by the Quran is put into practice which includes beheading and severing limbs on those who committed the particular crime. And if we read what the Quran says about capital punishment, we will find that there is no ambiguity in it interpretation. A verse from the Quran on the subject states “….If anyone kills a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed all people. And if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all people” (Qur’an 5:32). And like most other faiths, Islam holds life sacred and again quoting from the Qu’ran, it is stated “…take not life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law (Qur’an 6:151). And as such, according to Islamic law (in the first verse quoted above), the following two crimes can be punishable by death; intentional murder and spreading mischief in the land. It is very clear that the Qur’an legislates the death penalty for murder, but forgiveness and compassion are strongly encouraged. The murder victim’s family is given a choice to either insist on the death penalty, or to pardon the perpetrator and accept monetary compensation for their loss (2:178).
2. The court system in Saudi Arabia is as backward as one can imagine with nepotism and favoritism being the basic tenet. The law that uphold the belief that one is innocent until proven guilty, which is a basic tenet of Islam, is only paid liservice and is rarely practiced.
Having laid out the above stated realities, it would help us to examine the justness of the two cases that led to the loss of three Ethiopian lives. The Islamic penal code strictly adheres that “ … one must be properly convicted in an Islamic court of law before the punishment can be meted out. The severity of the punishment requires that very strict evidence standards must be met before a conviction is found. The court also has flexibility to order less than the ultimate punishment (for example, imposing fines or prison sentences), on a case-by-case basis.” People who follow different faiths can argue about the merits of the law as stated in the Quran, but that is a subject for a different time. For our purpose, it is sufficient to point out the basis of the law of the land. The basis of the law, in this case, the Qu’ran also orders to have ample evidence, and if convicted to show leniency in carrying out the sentence, which bring us to our second point. Does the Saudi court system strictly adhere to these principles and guidelines as stipulated in the Qu’ran? No, not by a long shot.
If there is a country that is corrupt and rotten to the core, it is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is a land that is basically ruled by a system of family relationships. Most everyone in important government and ruling positions are related to each other. One would hardly be pressed to find an iota of democratic practices in the land. Since it is impossible to find any semblance of democracy in any area of the royal ruling system, why would anyone expect to find justice and fairness in the court system? Every aspect of life depends on the whims of individuals who are related to the royal family, which number in the thousands, who sit in judgment of the whole population, both locals and foreigners. The point I am trying to make is that we should be very clear in looking where the problem lies in our particular cases. The root cause of the problem is the system of government and its everyday practices that filters through all its agencies that adversely affect all the population. The case of the three Ethiopian lives that we have lost should be seen in this light. Some of our fellow Ethiopians find it easier to vent their anger on the religion of Islam, and by extension on all Arabs, the majority of whom are followers of Isalm; but let us not forget that it is not only Ethiopians who were made to suffer under this totalitarian system, but people of other nations including Muslims and Arabs too.
There are many countries that have the death sentence as a final solution in criminal cases in the world including the United States. Discussing the pros and cons of capital punishment and weather if it is has any place in this day and age is a topic for another time. But taking the realities of the land into consideration, is it possible to say that all those who have been convicted in the Saudi legal system and put under the sword got a fair trial and representation? From what we know about the facts about Saudi Arabia, it does not take much to conclude that the court system, among many others, is neither fair nor just, but quite the opposite. The governments of many countries whose nationals got the short end of the Saudi court system have given up any hopes of getting fair trail and are in a state desperation. Since the Ethiopian government does not much care about its national, its silence in these particular cases is not surprising, though unconscionable.
If given the opportunity, the majority of the population in our country would rather leave its native land in search of a better life. Ethiopia has become a land of extremes when it comes to the issue of the economy. A handful of people who rub shoulders with the government make millions oblivious to the living conditions of millions of others. And the vast majority of our population suffers in abject misery coupled with a number of communicable diseases to top it all. Since the majority of the population has given any hope of seeing any tangible improvement in its living conditions, they have opted to take any kind of actions that promises to alleviate its conditions. Unfortunately, the only option that made itself available to the vast majority of the population is leaving ones beloved country and relatives and face what life has in store for them in a foreign land. Because of that, we have Ethiopians scattered all over the globe in search of a better life albeit sometimes with tragic consequences. And the government’s reactions in these and other similar episodes borders on total neglect for the welfare of its citizens. It seems that the only objective of the government is to facilitate the migration of thousands of Ethiopians into foreign lands so that it can be the beneficiary of the foreign currency that the poor souls pour into the country as well as the reduction of people from the unemployment line. It is indeed a win-win solution for the government without showing any responsibility and protection for the welfare of the people whom it is supposed to serve.
In a period of nine years from 1992-2201, a little more than 6,000 female domestic workers left for the Gulf states, according to the statistics provided by the government. But these figures take into consideration only those who have registered through legal employment agencies which accounts for only twenty percent of the migrants. It is estimated that more than twenty thousand Ethiopian domestic workers are serving in Lebanon alone. A conservative rough estimate of Ethiopians who have left their country is somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000. Ethiopian Airlines has found a new source of business transporting plane loads of these poor souls to different destinations in the Gulf states and neighboring countries two or three times a week. For further reading in the lives of Ethiopian domestic workers, please follow the link to read a brief chronicle in an article written by Bathseba H. Belai for The Reporter newspasper.
In order to address the issue properly and find a lasting solution, it is incumbent upon all of us to analyze the root cause of the problem. A great deal of the culpability rests on the shoulders of the government which is busy sending thousands of innocent souls into countries they are barely familiar with. A friend of mine told me a sad incident that he encountered at Bole Airport in his recent trip to Addis, which I find to support the rgument that I am advancing of the carelessness on the part of the government in not giving proper orientation to these Ethiopian domestic workers. While filling out exit forms at Bole on his way to the US, he said a woman who was on her way to a certain Gulf state approached him to help her fill out her forms. He said he started asking her all the pertinent information that was required and wrote it down accordingly. And then when he asked her the next question in regards to her destination, the woman was at a loss for words; she said she does not remember what she had been told by the employment agency. Although he was also in a hurry not to miss his flight because of all kinds of delays, he took the trouble of going through her documents to find out where it was. And I told him the obvious fact that the woman had made a decision that any place is better than her own homeland because of the sad reality of our country.
People who chose to support the government will cite all kinds of meaningless statistics, some made up and others distorted to fit ones objectives, in order to propagate what the government has done to improve the economy and as a result the lives of its citizens. But almost all Ethiopians know that this is empty nothing. The sad reality of our country and people is that it is meaningless to even record the unemployment rate because more than half the working population is out of work. And because of poor economic policies, which was forcefully pushed on our throats by IMF and the World Bank in total collaboration with the present regime, the devaluation of the currency has thrown a vast majority of the population in deep poverty. Ours is a county of two extremes where we have a handful of millionaires on the one hand and a sea of poverty for the rest, with no middle class to speak of. If it was not for the transfer of funds from the Ethiopian diaspora, it is unthinkable what life would look like in Ethiopia. Although it has been said time and again, we can not escape from the fact that we need a change from top down. A change in government that serves the wishes of its subjects and respects all norms of civilized behavior and democracy as its base is the only answer to solve the myriads of problems popping up all over the place. A government that is not accountable to anyone and engages in a senseless war that divides communities and countries, not to speak of the senselessly wasted human lives and resources, has got to go and every effort should be targeted towards that endeavor.