A kinder way to kill

Who says that the fine, upstanding religious folk of Saudi Arabia are not warm, big-hearted, benevolent people full of the milk of human kindness, thoughtfulness, humanity and generosity of spirit?

Proof of this comes today as we learn that a senior official there who said it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast "immoral content" has now qualified his remarks. Now, says Sheik Saleh al-Lehedan, chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council, owners of television stations that show programmes that are "inimical to Islam" can be executed in the due process of law instead.

Now isn't that big of him?

This deranged loon appeared on government-run Saudi TV in an apparent attempt to calm the controversy his comments had triggered last Thursday after he had said in a radio broadcast, in reply to a listener's query, that it was "permissible to kill" those who showed such programmes.

But being able to kill them only through the process of law – well, that's a big step in the right direction, isn't it? Perhaps the people of Saudi Arabia should find a way of killing the entire royal family, judiciary and obsenity police. Through the process of law, of course!