Saudi king asked to free condemned witch

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch called on the Saudi king Thursday to void the conviction of a woman facing execution for witchcraft.

In a letter to King Abdallah, the group said that Fawza Falih had been beaten to extort a confession she later repudiated in court. The charge itself has no basis in Saudi law, the letter argued.

"The fact that Saudi judges still conduct trials for unprovable crimes like 'witchcraft' underscores their inability to carry out objective criminal investigations," said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Fawza Falih's case is an example of how the authorities failed to comply even with existing safeguards in the Saudi justice system."

Several witnesses claimed that Falih had bewitched them, including one man who said she had made him impotent. In court, Falih said that she was beaten repeatedly during 35 days of detention by the Saudi religious police.