Man Sentenced To Be Paralyzed + Student Holds Own Funeral

The Saudi government is sentencing a 24-year-old man to paralysis as retribution for stabbing his friend when the two were teens.

Ali al-Khawahir reportedly stabbed his friend in the back when he was 14-years-old, paralyzing the teen from the waist down. In return, his victim wants one million Saudi riyals, the equivalent of $270,000, or retribution.

Amnesty International is outraged by the sentence: �Paralyzing someone as punishment for a crime would be torture,� said Ann Harrison, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International.

�That such a punishment might be implemented is utterly shocking, even in a context where flogging is frequently imposed as a punishment for some offences, as happens in Saudi Arabia.� Although al-Khawahir�s mother says she feels sorry for the victim and that he deserves millions in compensation, it is not something they can afford.

�Ten years have passed with hundreds of sleepless nights. My hair has become grey at a young age because of my son�s problem,� she told the Saudi Gazette. �I have been frightened to death whenever I think about my son�s fate and that he will have to be paralyzed.�

Retribution sentences have included eye-gouging, tooth extraction and death for murder, according to Amnesty. If the paralysis sentencing is carried through, it would go against the UN Convention against Torture, which Saudi Arabia is a part of.

Student Holds Own Funeral So She Could �Enjoy It�

Zeng Jia, 22, wanted to experience her own burial service while she was still alive. So she spent a fortune on a full-blown ceremony with mourners, flowers and photographers.

To make her body look more convincingly dead she hired a team of make-up artists who specialise in making dead people look more lifelike.

Zeng, from Wuhan, Hubei province, China, said: �It struck me that people spend all that time and effort on someone when they are gone and they cannot appreciate it. �I wanted to see what people would think of me so I decided to hold my funeral while I could enjoy it.�

Mourners at the service filed past Zeng�s open-casque coffin, decorated with chrysanthemums, to sprinkle petals over her body.

And a man in military dress uniform stood guard as the service was conducted. After lying in state for an hour � complete with a Hello Kitty doll on her chest and origami doves hanging above her coffin � Zeng got up to join her own wake.

She added: �Experiencing death has made me appreciate life more keenly.�

Source: natonal post