HOWEVER much the relief and rejoicing of British nurses Deborah Parry and Lucille McLauchlan may be at their release from jail in Saudi Arabia, it must be matched by huge disquiet over the huge cash deals for their stories
For whatever the truth in their cases, whatever criticisms the Saudi justice system is open to and whatever concerns there may be about how their confessions were obtained, the fact remains that the pair are convicted murders.
And it must be remembered that they were convicted according to a system and standards that they voluntarily accepted by going to work in Saudi Arabia.
Thus, the pair are convicted criminals who are effectively profiting from their crime if they benefit from the newspapers' blood money.
The Press Complaints Commission must come down hard on this clear transgression of its code by the Mirror and the Express.
It is all very well and right for the press to be interested in the stories of these two women. But is hypocritical to arrogantly argue that because Saudi standards are different from ours, it is right for the press to ignore the standards of decency and probity that it is expected to live up to.
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