Fawza Falih is scheduled to be executed by beheading, after exhausting all appeals in the Saudi courts. This 25-year old illiterate was convicted of witchcraft after being accused of using magic and consorting with Djinn (demons). After an accuser came forward to claim she had caused him to become impotent, a confession was extracted from Fawza through torture. Witnesses who appeared at her trial made similar ridiculous allegations. An appeals court overturned the death penalty after Falih retracted her confession, but the authorities quickly reinstated it for reasons of "public interest." Falih's conviction follows that of a Saudi pharmacist, who was executed in November for using magick. Saudi Arabia has no penal code, allowing regional courts and religious police free reign to decide what is criminal.

Fawza's last hope is a direct appeal to King Abdullah. You can find a sample letter here if you'd like to write on her behalf. If you do write, please be as polite and respectful as possible- the objective is to save this woman's life, not to vent our disgust at a barbaric medieval legal system.

Thanks to Lowell for the link.