As the world, particularly the so-called Western world, looks on in outrage at the activities of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in the borderlands of Syria and Iraq it is worth taking a moment to examine in detail the circumstances of the spectacle of public beheadings so beloved by the extremists. I urge you to read this extract from a recent piece by Janine di Giovanni for Newsweek, however uncomfortable it may make you feel:
“So, what’s it like to be beheaded there?
Your last morning on Earth would likely be spent in isolation. You would rise early and eat a last breakfast. If you are lucky, you might receive a sedative, like Valium, to calm your nerves.
People will gather to watch you die. According to British author John R. Bradley, public beheadings are the “only form of public entertainment”…
…you might be taken to the ochre-coloured Deera Square, which has acquired a macabre sobriquet: Chop Chop Square.
You will be led to the centre of the square… According to one of [the] state executioners, Mohammed Saad al-Beshi…
He wouldn’t reveal how much he gets paid for lopping off heads, but he did acknowledge that the sword (he actually prefers a knife, which he sharpens himself) is a gift…
…the executioner isn’t limited to separating bodies from heads. He also cuts off other body parts—hands, legs—depending on the crime.
At the square, you will be forced to your knees. Plastic bags are spread out over the surrounding area to catch the blood that will spill when your head is sliced off, with a single blow of the sword if you are lucky. When al-Beshi cuts off a hand, he says he cuts at a joint. “If it is a leg, the authorities specify where it is to be taken off, so I follow that.”
Some excited noises might come from the crowd.
For the most part, death comes fast. Usually the cut and amputation are surprisingly clean, if the head is kept straight when the fatal blow comes down. But sometimes it takes more than one try. The head, upon detachment, appears to pop off the body, as with a doll that has been squeezed too hard. It rolls to the front or side of the body, which twitches in spasms as the heart continues to beat for a while. The executioner then steps back. Someone moves forward and scoops up the head. Someone else retrieves the body as a jeep backs up to haul it away.
But even in death, you are not liberated.
…if you were accused of banditry or drug smuggling, like seven Yemenis who were beheaded last year, your corpse will also be crucified.
There are different methods of crucifying the headless. Hoisting a decapitated body up on a crane is one way, but more likely a pole will be used. And while the headless corpse is mounted, your head is placed in a plastic bag similar to the ones put on the ground to catch the blood. Your head is then raised above your body and appears to be floating and detached. Your corpse might be kept in that position for up to four days, as a grotesque warning to others of what might happen if they stray outside the law.
Who are the beheaded? Most of the crimes leading to beheading appear to be non-lethal: adultery, “sorcery,” “drug receiving”—which was the case for four cousins beheaded last August.
One of the other crime categories that leads to beheading—besides banditry, murder, drugs or paedophilia—is simple political dissent. But for activists protesting against the government or calling for reforms…”
By the by, that is not a reference to the ad hoc government of the Islamic State nor does the article itself describe public executions by that parapolitical entity. Instead it describes current events in Saudi Arabia, the long-time ally of the United States, Britain, France and numerous other nations supposedly fighting the “barbarisms” of fundamentalist Islam. That is the same “Chop Chop regime” which maintains its embassy to Ireland down on Fitzwilliam Square.
So answer me this: what is the difference between the public executions of the Islamic State and those of the Saudi kingdom? Because, for the life of me, I can see none…
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
IIRC beheading used to be reserved for aristocrats in the UK. It was presumably considered quicker, more dignified and more humane than hanging. And of course bodies were often left hanging on gibbets until only the bones remained. How long ago was that? Certainly post mediaevial. Also you might want to list the states that currently practise legal execution, I believe the USA is top of the list, such stout defenders of Christian civilisation. Little wonder the West is despised in the Middle East and elsewhere.
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The Saudis are savages, no doubt about it, but I quite like having electricity in my house. Another reason why Britain, Ireland and the US have to get fracking.
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Ultimately if the fusion reactors power by solar being developed at Lockheed Martin are anything to go by ‘Fracking’ might be quite unecessary
http://www.nature.com/news/lockheed-martin-s-fusion-goals-meet-scepticism-1.16169
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Yes, because the US experience of fracking has been so successful. Wait until you can light up your tap-water!
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a myth – read tony allwright’s blog.
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The USA is an anomaly – all the other Western countries have abolished capital punishment.
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Indeed, the United States and Japan are the only nations in the “West” that currently practice capital punishment. A handful of others have it for exceptional circumstances or as a legislative hangover. The USA is in very dubious company. Not to mention that some American states have Tea Party style politicians urging the use of firing squads as a second option for death penalty executions.
No wonder the United States finds Saudi Arabia such easy company.
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YOU ASK A QUESTION THAT SOUNDS LIKE A SLY WAY TO USE THESE HORRORS TO GET at usa or britin. One thing that might help. Are saudi doing the same like video westerners getting ….throats cut. Maybe if you work out here and see what they do to the7r own u may be capable to get a grip on unot using th3se horrors for a dig
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Decapitating prisoners in public – some on the flimsiest of evidence or the most bizarre of charges – followed by crucifixion of corpses is functionally the same as IS/ISIS/ISIL actions. And yes, that is a dig at the USA and the Saudis. And the Islamic State. The death penalty is abhorrent, whether in the “West” or “East”.
While IS is murdering innocent American, British and other captives Saudi Arabia is murdering women convicted of witchcraft or of being raped.
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That is a graphic account of a beheading you have posted An Sionnach fionn. Thankfully those ISIS terrorists spared us any nightmares by editing out the the gory stuff like blood etc in their ‘beheading videos’ Awful nice of them.; )
According to Obama this outfit are a bigger threat to the west than Al Qaeda. He obviously knows more than I do but if that’s the case then he may find their source at Langley.
Forgive my sarcasm but I still can’t shake off the belief that this ISIS malarkey is a ruse to attack Assad by the backdoor. It’s common knowledge that Assad had pushed back the people tasked with overthrowing him into Iraq and like a flick of a switch ISIS pops up in the same place. Further to my suspicion,paranoia etc that other great ally of the US and its hangers on, Turkey, seems reluctant,unwilling or quietly delighted that Isis are attacking the Kurds.
My prediction for what it’s worth is that the great and the good of the west will allow ISIS to get stronger to pave the way for a full intervention in Syria or it will encourage ISIS to turn its sights on Iran.
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There are so many factors at play in the conflict in Syria (and now Iraq) that it all but defies elucidation.
Personally I don’t believe that the Islamic State is controlled or the creation of the Americans but certainly there is some evidence that American incompetence and geo-political chicanery contributed towards its growth, both at a very early stage and then again much later. More a case of unexpected consequences, I suspect.
The intervention suggestion, I just don’t know. Political and military logic says no, it would be madness and no serious thinkers in any of the “Western” governments want it. However then one looks at the pointless invasion of Iraq in early 2000s. The whole thing was built on utterly fallacious arguments yet they went ahead with it.
If the US goes “boots-on-ground” in Syria (beyond proxies and special forces) then we are looking at conflict for decades ahead. No one in positions of responsibility can be that mad?
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