MOSCOW — The two-year prison sentence handed down to punk rock band Pussy Riot for a provocative protest inside a Moscow cathedral called attention to just how hard President Vladimir Putin is clamping down on minor displays of dissent.
But Russia isn’t the only country where people are punished for offenses that many in the West might consider trivial. People can spend years in prison for insulting the king in Thailand, slaughtering cattle without government permission in Cuba, selling land to Israelis in the West Bank and having gay sex in Ethiopia. A British man was sent to jail for stealing a bottle of water.
Here’s a look around the world at crime and punishment:
SINGAPORE: Vandalism is punishable in Singapore by prison terms and three to eight strokes of the cane, delivered on the buttocks with a thick rattan stick that leaves lifelong scars.
THAILAND: Thailand has some of the harshest lese majeste laws in the world, mandating a jail term of three to five years for defaming, insulting or threatening the king.
ZIMBABWE: Zimbabweans are routinely arrested and fined for insulting President Robert Mugabe under sweeping security laws that prohibit citizens from “undermining the authority of the president.”
SAUDI ARABIA:Women can face arrest for driving and trying to travel abroad without the permission of their husband or male guardian. Unrelated men and woman can risk arrest for mingling in private or public.
CUBA: Farmers who slaughter their own cattle without permission from the government face potential prison terms of four to 10 years, while transporting, selling or even purchasing such beef also can land someone in jail.
