Smoker gets lashes

Remind me to never go to Saudi Arabia. A Sudanese man was on a flight from Qurayyat to Jeddah on Saudi Arabia Airlines. On this flight he just couldn't wait any longer for a cigarette, so he lit one up. Now being a smoker I can understand the urgent desire to have a smoke, but it's been banned on planes for many years. I have flown many times and if it's a long flight take some nicotine gum or use the patch and move on. Now I won't go into my beliefs of being treated unequally as a citizen because I smoke. I will just say that when you fly you just don't smoke. It's rude. And I personally don't want to sit in a tiny cabin full of smoke no matter how much I want one. There just better be a smoking area at the airport. Either way this guy lit up. When the crew asked him to put it out he refused. Upon arrival at the airport he was arrested. No surprise there. The surprise came at his trial. Despite apologizing profusely... ( although whether he was apologizing for smoking or for doing something that got him arrested is unclear) He was sentenced to 30 lashes. Yes that's right, as in Medieval whippings. Apparently they still do that over there in the middle east. And what is really scary is that he should be thankful. A man was sentenced to 50 lashes for smoking on a plane last April. I will say this though, as barbaric as it sounds... I bet they have a lot less repeat criminals over there. Maybe if we beat the shit out of our criminals every time they got caught they would either get better at being a criminal so as to not get caught; or they would quit being criminals. Either way, I know I am sure tired of paying to house and feed people that just keep coming back after short periods of being out terrorizing the rest of us. Jail isn't working... Maybe lashes would.