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Smoking hurts on Saudi airline
For a smoker, nothing is more miserable than staring down a long flight without being able to light up. As if air travel isn't enough of a chore, various regulations and health nuts have taken away our preferred coping mechanism. A Sudanese man fought back ... and paid dearly. According to the Daily Mail, the passenger lit a cigarette on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Qurayyat to Jeddah. The cabin crew repeatedly asked that he put out the coffin nail, and he refused. So, when the plane touched down, he was arrested.
Saying sorry wasn't enough.
Though he apologized in court and presented evidence that he was in a smoking cessation program, the perp was sentenced to 30 lashes. Hey, the judge wanted to prove a point. And, it could have been worse. Last April, another in-flight smoker was sentenced to 50.
Not only does smoking kill ... it hurts like hell.
Though many human rights organizations condemn this form of punishment, it is quite common for a number of offenses, from adultery to being alone with a non-relative of the opposite sex. Some crimes can lead to thousands of lashes, but they are meted out in batches of 50 over a period of months.
What gets you 1,000 lashes? I don't know, but I suspect a post-coital cig after joining the mile-high club would put you in the running.
[Via Daily Mail]
What strange things have been found on planes?
Filed under: Activism, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Airlines, News
Reader Comments (Page 15 of 15)
kity169 Feb 7th 2009 2:45PM
I dont see why they dont Tax Booze or all the jerks who get behind the wheel of there big cars and Suv's. When I lite up I'm not going to kill someone. They keep taxing us smokers because of people bitching but I bet the ones bitching about us lighting up are ones who get drunk and think they are alright to drive.
I DO HAVE RIGHTS and GUESS WHAT THE NEW PRESIDENT SMOKES......
johnny g Feb 7th 2009 2:57PM
ok as a smoker and contrary to popular belief,I DO HAVE RIGHTS YOU MORONS so if i dont like the cologne you are wearing i should be able to file charges on you right? whats next in this country? people better start standing up for their individual rights fast>
vickizzen Feb 7th 2009 3:03PM
Just what we need here at home in the USA. Thrashing the criminal element will proove a plus. After the salt is thrown onto the back of a thug a few times he will be willing to carry an old woman's groceries home without mugging her.
Jacklyn Lopez Feb 7th 2009 3:10PM
I think all smokers deserve a good whoopin!!!
markangle Feb 7th 2009 3:13PM
i have the right to smoke just as much as u have the right not to. if im outside and u dont want to smell my cig go away. i agree no smoking in plane but in a restaurant or bar is fine. this is a free country last time i checked if u dont want to smell smoke in bar or restaurant stay home.
David Feb 7th 2009 3:31PM
I think if our laws gave you lashes instead of jail time there would be less repeat offenders. I know 30 lashes would make me not want to be a repeat offender.
Toria Feb 7th 2009 4:22PM
Maybe if he would have put the cigarette out when asked, he wouldn't have ended up getting arrested and sentenced to the 30 lashes. Idiot!
dancincat Feb 7th 2009 4:05PM
This subject is a sore one for me. I used to smoke up to two packs a day and the day I quit I got into my car and had to roll down all the windows and drive around in fresh air for an hour to dissipate the smell. I repainted my apartment. I instantly understood the plight of the non-smoker. When you quit smoking, your sense of smell changes and for most the smell of the smoke becomes quite intollerable. Not to mention the obvious factor of it being dangerous to yourself and others. If it is illegal to attempt suicide, why is it legal to smoke? If attempted murder is illegal, why is it legal to smoke? If knowingly spreading the AIDS virus is illegal, why is it legal to smoke? I will tell you why....MONEY!!! Smoking is the biggest export for the US and we still grow the most tobacco in the world. MONEY really is the root of all evil and it will unfortunately always take precedence over life, health, and happiness. It should NEVER be your right to pollute to my air and make me feel sick. I should NEVER have to walk away from an outdoor table where I am enjoying my meal because YOU want to light up. I'm sick of hearing about smoker's rights. I wish someone had taken away my right to smoke while I was polluting my lungs for the 16 years that I smoked.
Richard Feb 8th 2009 4:24AM
Now that is MY kind of airline.
harryd527 Feb 7th 2009 4:27PM
ALL SMOKERS SHOULD RECEIVE 30 LASHES.ESPECIALLY ONE'S WITH KIDS.
Annie Arkay Feb 7th 2009 4:26PM
Thirty lashes for smoking a cigarette? How many lashes do oil company CEOs get for polluting the oceans? How many lashes do Wall Street bankers get for destroying the global economy? How many lashes do members of Congress get for giving billions of tax dollars to their corporate cronies? Let's do something about it!
www.thirdpositionjustice.net
Foursfriend Feb 7th 2009 4:31PM
It figures that someone who calls themselves "ProPalin," would answer the way that they did.
I have been diagnosed with COPD, a chronic lung disease for which there is no cure. I have never smoked. However as a child, I was exposed to adults who smoked. While riding in cars in the wintertime with the windows rolled up, the smoke would make me sick. Smoking was permitted everywhere. Children had no choice and no chance for clean air at home if their parents were smokers. Since then, smoking has been found to be extremely harmful, yet many foolish people start this filthy habit and pollute others' air. I am glad that non-smokers are finally getting the chance to breath clean air. I am so sick of the whiners who complain that they're trying to quit smoking. Why did you start in the first place? How stupid is this? Keep your filthy habit out of public places unless you can confine your smoke unto your person. You can't. Stop bothering others. We have put up with seconhand smoke for decades. It is amazing to watch smokers blow smoke in the faces of babies and young children. Smokers are the most selfish people around. If they want to die from cancer or heart disease, fine. They have made their stupid choice. Just leave everyone else out of it and stop bitching about your "rights." You don't have any right to pollute anyone else's breathing air. Ever.
Dd Feb 8th 2009 5:47PM
Before you start making the radical claims that second-hand smoke is killing you, you'd better check your statistics, because if you continue down this road of hysteria, you are more likely to die from a stress-induced heart attack.
I went out and did my research, motivated by the comments here combined with the issues I saw during the Olympics, regarding the horrendous state of pollution in China. Here's some food for thought: Chinese can expect to live to the age of 73, US can expect to live to the age of 78, and Japanese can expect to live to the age of 82.
There are NO smoking bans in Japan, except on public transportation. No non-smoking areas in buildings, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. And about 50% of the adult male population smokes. And I can guarantee you that as cramped as space is in Japan, you are NEVER likely to be able to geet away from that "smokey smell".
Those of you who relish indulging in hysteria (I'm sure the anti-smokers are also global-warming nuts), you may better spend your time trying to curb the air polution coming out of China, and worrrying about the person sittting in the seat next to you on the airline having tuberculosis, pneumonia, cholera, typhoid, or scarlet fever. Especially if you're flying outside the US.
alissa Feb 7th 2009 4:41PM
How can any of your compare a barbaric country like Saudi Arabia with the U.S.? Come one, they kill people over there the way we kill cockroaches.
Jacques Feb 7th 2009 4:48PM
Whipping these arrogant smokers is a wonderful idea! Nothing else seems to have much impact. I applaud the Saudi's.
Alice Feb 7th 2009 5:01PM
As long as the government doesnt have a problem collecting all the revenue they get from cigarette sales then I DO have the right to smoke in the free world. We arent allowed to smoke in buildings and Im ok with that But I will smoke OUTSIDE! As far as the way people smell that smoke, there are a lot of smell people out there that dont smoke and that OFFENDS me.
Justin Feb 7th 2009 5:45PM
ou people that still think that you live in a country that gives you rights are stupid you dont have any rights here in the good old usa you have privleges and the list of prinleges keeps getting shorter by the day the only right that we have as Americans is the right to lay down and keep taking it up the ass by the government like we have been doing for the past 100 years it's time for the american people to stand up and take back control
Eugene Walter Feb 8th 2009 4:27AM
DDDonna, as a non-smoker, I have no problem with your right to smoke. No snide comments, dirty looks, etc. from. But what the vast majority of people seem not to understand is that a right is only a right until it conflicts with other peoples' rights, health and comfort. You, as a amoker, seem to think that a 'non-smoking' section actually works!! To someone who smokes, you don't notice that cigarette smoke ignores signs telling it where it can and can't go. Also, most 'rights' we seem to think we have, aren't rights at all!!
grei Mar 3rd 2009 6:57AM
Smoking is bad especially when done inside the toilet of a passenger plane. I'd say they should have just push that man off.Besides Smokers never grow old cause they die young...
Alex Mar 6th 2009 12:30PM
If you have ever had to go back onto a plane after a long haul flight like I have, then you will gag, as I did, over the stink and the fetid air inside it. This never happened when smoking was allowed on flights, because all air was thoroughly circulated. Now if someone sneezes at the back of economy everyone all the way through the plane ends up with a cold. Also, I have no idea what the anti smoking rules are doing to the health of airline staff, now that air is no longer circulated. These people are having to spend day after day in the fetid, hardly breathable air, which is now the norm in aircraft.