The first post says "Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam...." Interpretation is the key word. Sharia law (which is what Saudi Arabia applies, more or less) is based on the Quran, but most of it comes from secondary legal extrapolations known as the hashid, and further interpretations. Within Islam there are wide differences in the way it is applied - Iraq, for instance is a paragon of enlightenment compared with Iran.

In Iran, stonings have been routine under the mullahs - for adultery for instance, in which case women are buried up to their necks for stoning and men up to their waists. (The stones are delivered by the truckload to the eager crowds - each stone having to be big enough to cause severe injury, but not so big that any two could cause death.) Mousethief legitimately wonders about the guy who wields the sword. What can the effect be on those who throw the stones? Or on young children who are compelled to watch their parents being reduced to pulp over 20 minutes or so?

Neil (Irish Sergeant) says "their system works for them." Wise up, Neil. In Saudi Arabia the system works for the oil-rich Royals and a few hangers on. God knows who the Iranian system works for, but it is surely calculated to gratify the very worst in human nature. And even Neil would be hard-pressed to say that the Taliban interpretation of Islam works for women.

But justice in Iran and Afghanistan is actually fairer than the Saudi system in one crucial respect. They do make at least some token attempt to establish that those they convict are guilty. In Saudi Arabia the accused can be detained without limit before trial, denied all access to lawyers - or anyone else for that matter - and there is no contraint against reliance on confession evidence, even where it is induced by torture. Trials of course are behind closed doors.

Unlike Iraq (and Cuba in the case of the USA) Saudi Arabia is a country that the USA and UK are pleased to do business with. Indeed USA and UK have been known to bomb countries whose leaders behaved less outrageously than the Saudi royals.