The beheading took place in Makkah. A Burmese woman named Laila Bin Abdul Muttalib Basim, who lived in Saudi Arabia, was first dragged on a public street. Then, she was grabbed by four policemen, while a man took a sword and cut off her head.

It took three blows to do this, until the head was finally severed. Until then, the woman could be heard screaming and begging for her life, a plea that is of course completely ignored. “I did not kill! I did not kill!” she screams.

Then, she is silent and dead.

Little is known about Laila other than her crime: the murder and sexual abuse of a seven-year old girl who was her husband’s daughter from another marriage.

As is the case with the opaque Saudi brand of justice, little is known regarding whether the accused was permitted any means to a defense or whether she was convicted simply on the basis of the allegations against her.

The only part of justice that is visible to all in Saudi Arabia is, after all, the punishment; gruesome, grotesque in a way only a kingdom grown fat with liquid gold can afford to be.