Gays Picket Saudi Embassy in London
About 50 people picketed Saudi Arabia’s embassy in London Oct. 19 in protest against the nation’s reported floggings and executions of gay men.
On Oct. 2, two Saudi men convicted of sodomy in the city of Al Bahah received the first of their 7,000 lashes in punishment, the Okaz daily newspaper reported. The whippings took place in public, the report said.
The London protest, staged just prior to a state visit by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, was organized by the National Union of Students and the gay direct-action group OutRage!
“As well as flogging and executing gay people, the Saudi leaders are guilty of detention without trial, torture and the public beheading of women who have sex outside of marriage,” said OutRage! leader Peter Tatchell.
“The country is a theocratic police state.” Activist Brett Lock added, “Saudi leaders should be shunned until they stop their homophobic persecution and their many other human rights abuses.”
The activists delivered a protest letter to the Saudi ambassador, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.