英美 감동시킨 모성애···참수형 선고 사우디 소년母 오바마에 “내 아들을 살려주세요”

* ‘아시아엔’ 연수 외국기자가 작성한 기사의 한글요약본과 원문을 함께 게재합니다.

[아시아엔=라드와 아시라프 기자·번역 최정아 기자] 사우디아라비아(이하 사우디)의 한 여성이 ‘부당하게 사형신고를 받은 아들을 구해달라’며 미국 버락 오바마 대통령에게 호소했다.

사형수 알리 무함마드 알니므르는 2011년 이슬람 수니파 왕정국가인 사우디에서 ‘시아파에도 동등한 종교적 권리를 누릴 수있게 해달라’며 시위에 나섰다가 2012년 17세의 나이에 체포·감금됐다. 알니미르는 폭동선동과 국왕모욕 등의 죄목으로 사형선고를 받았다.

그의 모친 누스라 알-아흐메드는 지난 14일 <가디언>과의 인터뷰에서 “체포된 아들을 만나러 갔는데, 너무 심하게 고문을 당해 아들을 알아보지 못했다”며 “10대 아들에게 내려진 형벌이 지나치게 야만적이고 시대를 거스르는 것”이라고 호소했다.

국제엠네스티와 인권그룹 ‘리프리브’는 사우디 정부와 국제사회에 이 소년의 석방을 요청했다. ‘리프리브’의 마야 포아는 오바마 대통령이 즉시 행동에 나서야한다고 말했다.

미국 정부는 “이번 사건에 대해 깊은 우려를 보낸다”며 “사우디 정부가 인권을 존중하기를 요청한다. 재판은 투명하고 공정하게 이뤄져야 하며, 이는 국제적 의무다.”라고 발표했다. 또한 영국 데이비드 카메론 총리도 “사우디아라비아가 법정 시스템에 대해 다시 고려해야 한다”는 입장을 밝혔다.

이에 대해 압둘라 알모우알리미 주UN 사우디 대사는 <BBC>에 “알나미르 사건 관련 재판 과정에 문제가 없었다. 국제사회가 개입하지 않았으면 한다”며 “사우디는 가장 높은 수준의 인권 의식을 갖고 있다고 믿는다”고 말했다.

Mother of condemned Saudi man seeks US aid

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr’s mother, Nusra al-Ahmed, seeks Obama’s help to release her son. Al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 after participating in Shiaa-supporting protests in 2011. He was 17 years old at the time he was arrested which violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Al-Nimr who’s facing beheading and crucifixion was found guilty of a long list of crimes including sedition, breaking allegiance to the king, rioting, using petrol bombs against security patrols, robbing a pharmacy and more. His family denied all of these charges.

His mother said in her first interview with foreign media that this ruling against her son is “backwards in the extreme”. When she visited him after his arrest, she alleged he had been tortured. “When I visited my son for the first time I didn’t recognize him. I didn’t know whether this really was my son Ali or not. I could clearly see a wound on his forehead. Another wound in his nose. They disfigured it. Even his body, he was too thin.”

She urges Obama to intervene before her son is beheaded and his decapitated body hung from a cross in public. “Obama is the head of this world and he can, he can interfere and rescue my son … He would be rescuing us from a great tragedy.”

Amnesty International and human rights group Reprieve have called for clemency for al-Nimr. While other figures such as talk show host Bill Maher and British Prime Minister David Cameron have weighed in with demands for Saudi Arabia to reconsider its judicial system. While other like Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, urged the US president to step in immediately.

In response, a senior Obama administration official said the US is “deeply concerned” by the case. “We call on the Government of Saudi Arabia to respect universal human rights and its international obligations as well as to ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings that afford requisite fair trial procedures and safeguards in this and all cases,” the Obama administration official said.

Saudi ambassador to the UN Abdallah al-Mouallimi told the BBC’s Newsnight that in al-Nimr’s case, the “legal process has not been exhausted,” but asked the world to not interfere in the country’s internal affairs. Mouallimi said the kingdom would uphold the UN charter on human rights. “The application of sharia law as far as human rights is concerned the highest form of human rights,” he said, adding: “We believe that we are holding ourselves to the highest standards. If that doesn’t please someone here or there, that’s their problem not ours.”