Xyranian Justice - Part 1

by Jim-Piston

Authors’ note: This story is a revised and expanded version of an earlier story ("Mideast Justice") that was co-authored with Nathan back in 2002. It starts from the same point: an American teenager caught importing gay porn into a fundamentalist Mideast theocracy.

Why the new version? Well, the 2002 version was my first attempt at writing a story of this kind. For some time, I’ve thought it it could be better. It was fun to write, especially the interaction with Nathan, but my contribution was definitely a first effort. It was also more than a little over the top. (Not that this isn’t still.)

This first part is maybe sixty percent new, following parts almost entirely new. I hope the new version turns you on. Writing it certainly did, for me.

Warning: This story is not for the squeamish, especially in later parts. Please don’t read it if harsh punishment --Islamic or otherwise-- turns you off. The story reflects the reality of Shari’a law, prisons, and punishment in "modern" Mideast states like Saudi Arabia or Iran.

[1]

Judicial corporate punishment is still widespread in Islamic states, mostly hidden from the Western press or ignored. Some privileged Western tourists get to see it. A few --very few-- actually get to experience it. Some of the ones that do become famous. Indeed, some get to be celebrities.

Lou Keltner was one of those.

Lou was seventeen, almost eighteen, the oldest son in a family of three kids. His dad was a businessman who did a lot of traveling, bringing his family with him whenever he could. He enjoyed showing them places that would broaden their minds.

This trip was to the Mideast, through five countries in three weeks. The trip would make Lou famous.

Mr Keltner had done everything he could to make the trip a success.

He’d arranged tours to occupy his wife and kids during business meetings. He’d briefed them on the sights they’d see, and on the culture, food, and weather. He’d briefed them on health tips, too, like not drinking the local water. But he hadn’t thought to brief them on some important things.

Like what NOT to bring through customs.

That became apparent the moment they arrived in Xyran, their first stop on the tour.

When the customs officer opened his older son’s suitcase, Mr Keltner looked at his son in disbelief. You’d have thought even a mental defective would have known not to bring pornographic magazines into a fundamentalist theocracy like Xyran, let alone display them so blatantly. His son was supposed to be smart. And politically aware.

"I know the score, Dad" his son had grinned before they left. "You don’t need to tell me what to do."

Lou quickly showed just how much he knew, telling the customs officer that it was none of his fucking business what was in his suitcase. The officer predictably responded by dumping its contents on the floor, unearthing the even harder porn that Lou had hidden under his clothes.

Mr Keltner had protested the official’s actions, defending his son’s innocence. But the official had just snapped back angrily, picking up one of the hidden magazines in disbelief. It had landed face-up after being dumped, displaying its provocative cover.

The magazine wasn’t just porn. That would have been bad enough. It was hard porn, gay porn, violating the worst taboos of Islamic law.

The cover featured the "white on black athletics" theme of the issue: a naked blond Nordic teenager, legs splayed wide, jerking off and grinning at the camera as his butt sunk down on the humongous prick of an equally naked Somali runner. The wiry twenty-something coal-black athlete wasn’t just lying there in passive ecstasy, either. His large black hands tightly gripped the insides of the blond teen’s thighs, pulling the boy’s sexy young ass down hard.

Lou’s father winced as the official leafed through the photos inside and then picked up some of the DVDs. He’d never imagined that his son was gay. And that magazine cover was nothing, compared to some of the photos inside or on the covers of the DVDs. It would be hard to imagine anything more provocative, especially to a homophobic Muslim fundamentalist.

Lou was well aware of that now, standing in the courtroom waiting to be judged. The magazines had been among the first exhibits to be filed by the prosecutor. The judges --three Wahabi clerics-- had not hidden their scorn and disgust.

The youth was hardly able to move, confined within a narrow steel cage in the middle of the hot courtroom. Even clothed just in baggy, loose-fitting white cotton pants --the country’s low-cost prison uniform-- sweat poured down Lou’s body. And not just from the heat. The more he saw of the judges, the more frightened he became.

The judges’ initial remarks left Lou few illusions about the court’s sympathy. The country’s legal code was loosely based on medieval Shari’a law, largely unchanged since the eighth century. The judges were xenophobic, homophobic, and totally disinterested in the rights of defendants. The presumption of innocence was obviously an unknown and irrelevant concept. The judges’ attitudes made that only too clear.

Not that it really mattered for Lou. The evidence in front of the judges would have been enough for any court.

[2]

The customs guard had gone ballistic when he saw what the youth had tried to bring in. And Lou’s contempt for the guard had just made matters worse. "What’s the big fucking deal?" he kept asking. "Get a Valium, for fuck’s sake! They’re just home videos."

It was all so fucking stupid, Lou told the official scornfully. After all, it wasn’t like he was carrying drugs or explosives or anything. The DVDs and magazines were just entertainment. Why the fuck were they so exercised? He’d only brought them to show guys here. Didn’t they have anything better to do?

His dad had tried to intervene, but the official had angrily waved him away, calling more guards over. Several of them took Lou’s family into a holding area and started taking their baggage apart. The others confiscated Lou’s belongings and took him elsewhere for questioning.

That had been the last thing Mr Keltner saw of his son, until he saw him in the courtroom.

Once in an interrogation room, the guards turned Lou over to the border police.

The policemen made Lou strip. They searched the youth everywhere to see what else he might be smuggling, forcing his naked body down over a table and probing mercilessly. The search had been totally humiliating for Lou. The probing had turned him on.

When his interrogators saw Lou’s hard-on, they called in a guard with a camera, keeping Lou bent over the table and probing even harder. The guard took pictures of the slim athletic youth as he arched up. When the probing got the teenager even more turned on, they made him reach back to fuck his asshole with his finger, keeping his legs spread apart so his hard-on was in full view.

Lou was too frightened to disobey. And too turned on for his hard-on to diminish. He had a good-size prick, so it showed up well. The police kept taking pictures, slapping to make him jerk up and look back.

A senior police inspector came in.

"What a degenerate!" the inspector sneered, looking at Lou’s hard-on. He started asking Lou questions.

It was all so humiliating! The questions were intrusive and embarrassing. Lou didn’t know how to respond.

His answers and evasions angered everyone. The policemen started slapping Lou hard as the inspector shouted questions, holding the frightened youth down while the questions and demands continued.

Lou felt the pain build in his buttocks as they quickly turned red. The slaps hurt. But for some reason they turned him on, too, even as one of the policemen got a belt and went behind him.

"YAIEEOOOWHHHH!!! FUCK!!!" The belt had slashed across the undersides of his buttocks.

"JESUS!!" Lou hadn’t expected that. He hadn’t seen the policeman swing, and hadn’t noticed him getting the belt.

"OH, GOD!!! AOOOWWHHHH!!!" The belt had slashed into him again. "FUCK!!! FUCKING SHIT!!! DON’T DO THIS!!"

He tried to jerk up, but the policemen easily held him down. "YAAOOOWHHHH!!!! FUCK!!!" Lou was beside himself. "SHIT!!! AOOOOWWRGHHHH!!! SHIT!!!"

He suddenly slipped out of their grasp and jerked up and around, arching back to grab his ass. The camera flashed just as he pushed his hips forward, catching his hard-on at its most prominent.

"Get back down on that table, pervert!" the one with the belt demanded.

"I’m no pervert!" Lou retorted angrily. "I’m an American, for Christ’s sake! Stop doing this!"

The policeman raised the belt menacingly.

"Oh, Jesus!" Lou cringed. "You can’t do this!" The policeman reached back. "YOU FUCKING CAN’T!!!"

"Then stop evading our questions!" the inspector snarled. "Answer them!"

"I AM!! I’M TRYING TO!!!

[3]

"You fuck boys" one of the police spat. "Like in magazines you smuggle in."

"NO!!! THAT’S FUCKING NOT TRUE!!!"

"What you do? Pay them?" That was the inspector again. "Get someone to hold them down? Beat them to make them let you do it?"

"No!!" Lou was indignant. "I don’t do any of that!"

"Why you come Xyran? Find boys for fuck, yes? Maybe take back with you to America? Sell to other perverts back home?"

"NO!!!" Lou looked back at him in alarm. "NO FUCKING WAY!!"

"Put him back down." That was the one holding the belt. "I make him tell."

"NO!!!" Lou was hemmed in on all sides, really frightened now. "PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!!!"

"FUCK OFF!!!" Two policemen had grabbed his arms. "FUCK OFF, I TOLD YOU!!! LET ME GO!!!"

They forced him down over the table. "AOOOWWHHHH!!! SHIT!!!" The belt had slashed across his buttocks as soon as he’d been pushed down. "FUCKING JESUS!!!" It had lashed into him again.

The belt lashed into him a third time, down into the inner flesh of his right thigh. "AOOOWWHHHH!!! OH, JESUS!!! PLEASE!!!" The policeman was reaching back. "NO!!! NO!!! YAIEEOOOOWHHHH!!!!"

More blows, further down that thigh. "OH, GOD!!! PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!!! PLEASE!!!"

"AAAOOWWRGHHH!!!" That time, across the undersides of his buttocks. "FUCKING JESUS!!! FUCK!!!"

"AOOOWWHHH!!! NO!!! PLEASE!!!" The blows just didn’t stop. "YAIEEOOOWHHHH!!! NO!!! OH, FUCK!!! FUCK!!! AAAOOOWGHHHH!!!"

Lou couldn’t believe the pain. The guard beating him had paused, but the pain just kept growing. It was like the early stages of a fire, gradually expanding as his ass burned.

"OH, GOD!!!" he moaned, feeling the fire grow. The pain was so fucking awful!

He’d never felt anything like this. He’d never been beaten back home, never even been accidentally hurt, in any serious kind of way. He’d never even imagined something like this could ever happen to him.

"You want more?" the inspector sneered.

"NO!!! PLEASE!!!" He looked back at the grinning policemen. "PLEASE DON’T GIVE ME ANY MORE!!!"

"Then tell us who you smuggle for" the inspector barked. "Father? Xyranian friend? Who know you here? Tell names."

"Nobody!" Lou gasped. "Please don’t hit me again!"

"You lie! Who your contacts here? Who pay you? I tell you, tell names!"

"NO ONE!!!" The inspector nodded to the policeman. "NOOOHHHH!!!! OH, GOD!!!"

"AAAOOOOWHHHH!!!! JESUS!!!" A slash across his crease. "NO!!! NOOOOHHHH!!! AOOOWGHHHH!!!" OH, JESUS!!! FUCKING JESUS!!! PLEASE!!!"

"YAOOOWWHHHH!!!" The belt had slashed across his thighs again. "OH, JESUS!!!" The belt kept lashing down on him. "AOOOWHHHH!!! PLEASE!!!"

"Tell names! Tell now!"

"I CAN’T!!! HONEST!!!"

[4]

"OH, NO!!!" A policeman had taken a second belt out to his other side. "OH, JESUS!!! NOT ANOTHER!!! OH, PLEASE!!!"

Both policemen swung. "YAIEEOOOWHHHH!!! AOOOWWHHHH!!! OH, GOD!!! GOD!!!"

They were swinging again. "NO!!! YAOOOWWHHHH!!! AIEEOOOOHHH!!!"

Two at once was worse than twice as bad. "OH, PLEASE!!!" he sobbed. The two men’s blows were coming in unison now. "YAOOOWGHHHH!!! PLEASE!!!"

"Tell us the truth!"

"I AM!!! AOOOOWWHHHH!!! I AM!!!"

"We know why you perverts come" the second one beating him spat. "You come fuck boys, piss on Koran."

"NO!!! I’M A TOURIST!!! I WOULDN’T DO THAT!!!"

"Liar!" His belt slashed across Lou’s right buttock.

"I’M NOT!!! AOOOOWWWHHHH!!! I’M NOT!!! I’M FUCKING NOT!!!"

"Hit him again!" the inspector ordered. "Make him tell!"

Lou still couldn’t believe this was happening. It was so awful, so shocking, so astonishing. Why were they doing this? Why didn’t they believe him? What the fuck had he done?

"YAAOOOOWHHHH!!!" Another pair of blows, both into his inner thighs. "AAAARGHHHH!!! FUCK!!! OH, FUCK!!! YAIEEOOOOWHHHH!!!"

"AOOOWHHHH!!!" Their belts just kept slashing into him. "AAAOOOWHHHH!!!"

"OH, GOD!!!" Lou was sobbing in despair. "WHY DON’T YOU BELIEVE ME?"

"All you Americans lie" the inspector sneered. "You come look for sex. Buy Xyran boys. If not, maybe sell own ass. Is that what you do?"

"NO!!!"

"Then tell us why you come! Who help you? Tell!!"

"I CAN’T!!! AOOOWWWHHHH!!!! OH, PLEASE!!! NO ONE HELPED ME!! PLEASE BELIEVE ME!!! PLEASE!!!"

"Why you come to Xyran? Tell truth!"

"I DON’T KNOW!! I CAME WITH MY FATHER!!!"

"He behind this? He make you bring porn?"

"NO!!! IT WAS JUST ME!! OH, GOD!!!" One of the belts had hit into his ass crack. "OH, JESUS!!!" It had just missed Lou’s asshole. "PLEASE!!! I’M TELLING THE TRUTH!!! HONEST, I AM!!!"

"YAIEEOOOWHHH!!!" Lou’s ass was on fire everywhere. "FUCK!!! FUCKING SHIT!!!" They were both aiming for his crack now. "AOOOOWWWHHHH!!! FUCK!!! OH, FUCK!!! PLEASE!!!"

One of the other ones suddenly intervened, pointing to Lou’s prick. The camera flashed. And flashed again.

Even as Lou’s ass crack blazed, his prick had again become hard.

[5]

The police chattered in gibberish. And then made Lou stand with his back to the table.

"Show us what you do, pervert" the inspector jeered. "Fuck with finger again!"

Lou was too frightened to disobey. The camera flashed from different angles.

"Maybe he get fucked" one of the others sneered. "That what you like, pervert?"

"No! I’m not what you think!" Lou was really frightened now.

"Get up on the table" someone ordered. "Lie on your back."

Lou did that too. "FUCK!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

One of the policemen had pulled his legs up, pulling his ass crack open. Lou jerked further up the table, arching up in a vain attempt to get away.

"Stay where you are!" the inspector ordered. "Don’t move!"

Lou froze. He was terrified. And totally embarrassed.

With his feet on the table’s edge, legs splayed wide, and torso arching up, his ass was high in the air, reaching up, totally tense. His hard-on pushed out above him, reaching to impale the ceiling.

Lou couldn’t understand why he was so turned on. But he couldn’t help himself. His prick was a steel pole.

The camera flashed. "Jerk yourself off!" the inspector commanded. "Show how you cum!"

Lou’s prick got even harder, as he did what he was told.

The camera flashed. The policemen chattered. Lou couldn’t understand what they were saying. But their scorn and contempt were obvious.

When someone found a sawed-off broom handle and made him push that up his ass, the teen was beside himself. He was too scared to protest, too turned on not to react.

He kept pushing the wooden handle in as they demanded, feverishly jerking off.

OH, GOD!! The sensation was incredible. Every time the handle pushed in, Lou arched up even more, rubbing the smooth wood against his prostate and getting more and more turned on.

"OH, JESUS!!!" he suddenly yelled. "JESUS!!! FUCKING JESUS!!!" It was all just too much. "SHIT!!! I’M GOING TO CUM!!! OH, GOD!!! FUCK!!! I’M CUMMING!!!"

Lou’s eruption was spectacular. He shot wad after wad over his chest and lean belly, some even landing on his chin.

All the while Lou did that, the officer with the camera kept taking pictures. God knows what they’d done with them.

[6]

Lou was terrified in prison. Terrified of being beaten again. Terrified of everything.

After he’d cum, the police had beaten him again. Then they’d taken him to a jail, where he’d had been thrown into a holding cell with two recently jailed American youths.

One of them was beaten brutally the next day.

It was incredible. The guy hadn’t been doing anything exceptional. He’d just been lying naked on his bed jerking off, trying to stay comfortable in the hot fetid jail. What the fuck was wrong with that?

The guy had joked with him about doing it, and Lou had himself become turned on. In fact, he’d been just about to join the guy in beating off, maybe doing even more, when suddenly the guards burst in and dragged the youth away to a nearby room.

Lou could hear the guy scream as he was caned. The youth screamed and screamed, as blow after blow landed on his ass. Lou could hear each blow. And each scream. The guy got easily two dozen blows.

Afterwards, as the youth lay face down on the metal pallet, naked and sobbing as he writhed, Lou could see what they’d done to the poor guy’s butt. It was unbelievable, way worse than the belting he’d got from those border police. The jail guards were animals. They’d totally massacred the guy’s ass.

Lou was kept in that holding cell for over two weeks.

He’d not been allowed to see his family. After several days, a consular official had talked to him briefly, telling him that his dad had hired a local lawyer who was trying to get him released. The lawyer had talked to him a few days after that.

The lawyer had not sugar-coated Lou’s prospects. He’d told Lou they were trying to get him released without a trial, but that it wouldn’t be easy. If it did go to trial, he could be looking at thirty years in jail for attempting to import porn. Because he was over sixteen, he would be tried as an adult. He could expect little mercy merely because of his young age.

Lou hadn’t really believed what the lawyer told him about the potential penalty. While he’d known the laws here were strict and had even seen one of their barbaric public punishments, he’d never imagined they could possibly apply to him. Particularly for such a petty infraction. After all, it was no big deal, just a few two-bit magazines and DVDs. Surely nobody could get all that exercised.

Besides, he was an American. That would surely count in his favor. Well, it would, wouldn’t it?

The lawyer had just snorted when Lou said that to him.

Lou sure hoped the lawyer could get him off. He was terrified of spending more time in that jail.

After what had happened to the other youth in his cell, he’d shaken with fear every time a prison guard grinned at him.

He was terrified of being beaten, of getting a caning like what that other guy had received. But it wasn’t just being beaten that frightened him. He’d read stories back home about what a slender American teenager could expect from inmates in Mideast prisons. Or even from the jailers, for that matter.

The stories were probably true, he’d begun to believe.

Lou was a good-looking kid. Too good-looking for his own good.

Lightly tanned, blond, and slender, his 5’11" body carried just under 150 pounds, almost all lean muscle. He was on his high school track and ski teams, worked out frequently, and had the slim athletic build and flat belly to show for it. With his toned body, engaging grin, and cute butt, Lou looked incredibly sexy.

No question about what that meant here. He’d be a prime target for horny inmates or guards in any country’s jails, one of the other Americans had told him. Here, it was guaranteed. "Just wait until you get put in a cell with Xyranians" he’d grinned. "They’ll fuck you your first night."

Lou could see the way the jailers and inmates looked at him. He’d quickly realized the American was right.

"They won’t do anything while you’re waiting for trial" the American told him. "But just wait until you’re back here afterwards. You’re for it, kid. No question."

[7]

The American was wrong. The guards didn’t wait that long.

They transferred the two Americans to another cell a few days before Lou’s trial, moving in two English-speaking Xyranians just before dark.

The Xyranians were both in their late twenties, fairly good-looking, and clearly very horny. They’d obviously bribed the guards to arrange the transfer. They quickly made it plain to Lou what they intended.

"We understand you like it" the taller one grinned.

Lou shook his head. "No way! You’re not doing that to me! I’m not some fucking gay!"

"That’s not what we hear, kid. The guard tells us there’s all kinds of pictures of you getting it, posted on the Internet."

"That’s impossible!" Lou retorted. "I’ve never posted anything like that."

"No?" the Xyranian laughed. He took a folded-up printout from his pocket. "This sure looks like you. Take a look!"

Lou looked at the photo in shock. "How the fuck did you get this?"

It had to be one of the photos the border police had taken. It showed him looking back toward the camera, his face clearly recognizable as he pushed two fingers up into his naked ass. With legs wide open, body bent over the table, his hard-on looked huge.

The Xyranian laughed again. "The guard printed it off for us, so we could see what we were paying for."

"It’s not me! It’s fucking not!"

"Yeah, sure." He grinned at Lou. "We had to bid for you, kid. You’d fucking better be good!"

Lou shrank back, looking at them fearfully as they closed in on him. "I’m not doing this! You’re not fucking me! No fucking way!"

He suddenly jumped past them to the gate of the cell. "GUARD!!!" he yelled. "HELP!!! PLEASE!!! I NEED HELP!!!"

He kept yelling until a guard came. The guard looked at Lou sullenly and said something to the two Xyranians. The taller one said something in a sneering tone, then nodded at the guard’s reply.

He turned to Lou. "The guard says you do what we tell you. If you don’t, and don’t stop yelling, you will be punished."

Lou didn’t believe him. "Tell him to fetch an English-speaking guard!"

The Xyranian snorted and said something to the guard. The guard left and came back with a second guard.

"NO!!!" Lou screamed. The second guard was carrying two rubber paddles.

The guards yanked open the door of the cell and came in. The first guard said something.

"He says to strip" the Xyranian sneered.

"NO!!!" Lou looked at them in horror. "YOU CAN’T DO THIS!!! YOU FUCKING CAN’T!!!"

The Xyranian said something to the guards. They grabbed Lou, banged him against the wall, and said something to the two men, clearly an order.

The two Xyranians nodded. They quickly pulled Lou’s pants off, throwing them on the floor. Then, on another order, the two men sat on the edge of the metal bed. The two guards forced Lou over the knees of the taller one, ordering the two men to hold him there.

Lou was screaming in fear.

The guard with the paddles gave one to the other guard, reached back, and swung hard. Lou shrieked as it slammed into one of his buttocks.

"NO!!! AOOOWHHHH!!! NO!!!" The other guard swung, from Lou’s other side, into his other buttock. "YAIEEOOOOHHHH!!!! OH, GOD!!! JESUS!!! FUCKING JESUS!!!"

"YAAAOOOOWHHHH!!!! AAOOOWGHHHH!!!!" The guards were hitting hard, slamming the paddles into Lou’s flesh just as fast as they could.

Lou was beside himself with pain. The paddles weren’t all that long, maybe twenty inches or so, but they were wide and easily half an inch thick. They were a lot heavier than the belts those border police had used on him. Each blow really hurt.

And they didn’t stop. Lou shrieked and shrieked as the paddles kept slamming into him, all over his ass and the tops of his thighs.

By the time they stopped, Lou was close to hysterical.

The Xyranian he was suspended over grinned scornfully. "Guards ask if you want more."

"Oh, God, no!" Lou sobbed. "Please!" His ass hurt so much! "Please don’t give me any more!"

"You do as we want now? You give us your ass?"

"Oh, God!" Lou couldn’t bring himself to accept that. "Please don’t make me do that!"

"NO!!! OH, GOD!!! NO!!!" The Xyranian had said something and the guards had reached back. "NO!!! AOOOOWWHHHHHH!!!! YAOOOOWWHHH!!!"

"OH, GOD!!! OH, PLEASE!!!" Lou couldn’t take it. "YAAAOOOWHHHH!!!! STOP!!! I’LL DO IT!!! AOOOWWHHHH!!! I’LL DO IT!!!"

The blows stopped a second time.

The Xyranian asked him again. "You do anything we tell you? Everything we want?"

Lou nodded as he sobbed. "Yes." He knew he had no choice.

The Xyranian said something to the guards. They nodded and said something in reply.

The Xyranian shrugged and looked down on Lou. "You get them afterwards now, too."

"NO!!!! NOT THEM, TOO!!!"

"You want more on your ass?"

"OH, GOD!!!! GOD!!!" Lou sobbed.

[8]

Mr Keltner knew nothing about what his son was experiencing. But he feared the worst.

He’d immediately contacted the U.S. consulate and been placed in contact with a local lawyer. The lawyer spoke English and had acted for other Americans before. But it didn’t seem as if he was accomplishing anything. For almost a week, neither consul nor lawyer were allowed access to his son.

Mr Keltner was beside himself with worry, extremely concerned about what might happen to Lou in jail. "We just have to get him out" Mr Keltner told the lawyer. "God knows what’s happening to him now."

The lawyer had agreed. "He’s jailbait" he shrugged. "Any boy that naive has to be."

There wasn’t much he could do for Lou in a trial, the lawyer had told Mr Keltner. He’d talked to the prosecutor after he saw Lou in jail and learned that the boy would almost certainly be sent to trial.

Porn of any kind was illegal, especially videos. And the facts couldn’t be argued. Lou had brought them in his bag, his fingerprints were all over them, and he’d admitted they were his to the border guards. So far as the evidence was concerned, Lou was screwed.

There might even be more evidence against him, the lawyer told Lou’s dad. They knew nothing of the content of the DVDs. And the prosecutors were more close-mouthed than usual, which was not a good sign.

The only recourse was to plead for mercy, and try to win favorable treatment. Which, in this society, meant bribes.

And so, money had changed hands. Lots of money.

Lou’s dad wasn’t all that rich, but he’d willingly spent everything he had. He’d emptied his life savings and taken out an additional mortgage on the family home. Even that had not been enough. He’d had to raise even more money, through high-interest loans.

Even after a large sum had been paid, there was no guarantee what the panel of judges would say. The only truly effective way of ensuring a good result was to persuade the prosecution to reduce or withdraw the charge. And that took even more money, on top of what was being paid to the judges.

So far, Mr Keltner had paid more than US$200,000 to the lawyer. God knows how much had actually been transferred to the people that needed to be paid. Lou’s dad had no option but to trust the lawyer to do what he said.

Just two days before the trial, the lawyer had asked his dad for another US$50,000. There was no way Mr Keltner could raise anything like that much, especially on such short notice. He told the lawyer it was blackmail.

The lawyer retorted that didn’t matter, new facts were on the table now. The prosecutors had told him that additional damning evidence had been discovered, and that it would be presented to the court if more money wasn’t forthcoming. They didn’t say what that evidence was, other than it was clear proof of the boy’s degeneracy.

The lawyer told Lou’s dad that he was afraid it was no bluff. The bribes paid to the judges would only have an effect in moderating what was decided on the smuggling charge. If the prosecution presented evidence supporting other morals charges, there was no telling what penalties Lou might face.

The lawyer again urged Mr Keltner to raise the extra $50,000. Lou’s dad had to tell him he couldn’t. The lawyer told him that was a mistake. I can’t help it, Lou’s dad told him, I just can’t raise any more.

[9]

So here it was, the day of the trial. Lou’s parents and siblings were in court watching, accompanied by the consular official who’d interviewed him in the prison. His dad sat by the lawyer.

By now, the trial had been going on most of the afternoon. Lou couldn’t understand most of what was being said. Occasionally something was translated into English by a court interpreter when Lou was asked a question, but for the most part the trial was conducted in incomprehensible gibberish.

The worst part had come after the prosecution had entered the porn magazines as evidence, when they’d shown the videos to the court. The presiding judge had stopped the trial so the courtroom could be cleared.

The witnesses and observers had all been forced to leave, including Lou’s mother, sister, and fourteen-year-old brother. Then, with only the prosecutor, his attorney, and his dad present, along with a representative of the local press and some officials, the three-man panel of judges ordered the DVDs to be played.

You could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom as two of the DVDs were viewed. The judges murmured to each other as they watched sinuous mid-teen boys being seduced by older youths in the first video, being beaten and raped in the second.

Lou couldn’t help blushing. He’d not looked at the videos before putting them in his baggage, and the videos were anything but subtle. He felt himself getting turned on as he watched. He tried to figure out the impassive looks on the judges’ faces, wondering whether they were secretly enjoying the scenes of horny young teens being held down and raped.

The scenes were hot. The older youths were real studs. It was no wonder the young teens kept shooting cum as they got fucked. Even the ones that got raped were willing victims, obviously turned on even while being beaten. It must have been fantastic to be part of that scene.

He looked at the judges again, hoping they were getting turned on too. Arabs were supposed to be into this, weren’t they?

But then they’d looked at him directly, showing undisguised contempt. And it certainly didn’t help that his own arousal had become prominent, pushing out the baggy cotton prison pants in an unmistakable tent. The prosecutor made a big deal out of pointing Lou’s hard-on out to the disgusted judges. Their looks of contempt were withering.

After the witnesses and observers were allowed back in, the judges started asking Lou questions through the interpreter. His dad had tried to speak up in his defense, quickly silenced after a brief plea.

The judges asked questions about the videos and his reactions. Lou couldn’t deny he’d been aroused. "I couldn’t help it" Lou told them in embarrassment. "I’m sorry, I just couldn’t."

They asked many more questions about his morals and behavior, which Lou answered as best he could. On the whole, the youth thought, he answered them well. But his answers weren’t being translated. He knew he had to tell the truth, and so would talk for two or three minutes, trying to explain and apologize. The translator would then look at the judge and say one or two curt sentences.

It was incredible! One or two sentences? He had no idea what the judges were hearing, but it couldn’t have been what he was trying to tell them. The look of contempt on the translator’s face made it only too clear what he thought.

Lou kept looking at his lawyer, expecting him to intervene. But his lawyer just shrugged, looking at him with the same contempt. Lou was getting desperate. No one seemed to believe him.

The judges’ follow-up questions made that disbelief even clearer.

At one point early in the questioning, the prosecution countered Lou’s denial of being gay by introducing some of the photos the border guards had taken, showing him jerking off while fucking himself. The pictures had been posted on an Internet site advertising boys available for sex, the prosecutor told the judges. He showed the judges screen shots of the site, showing the photos intermingled with Arabic and English messages praising Lou’s qualities in anal sex.

From that point on, the judges showed clearly that they had made up their minds. They even threatened Lou with punishment for perjury and contempt, if he continued to lie to them about his perversion.

Lou felt more and more frightened of the disaster looming over him.

It wasn’t fair! He wasn’t lying to them. He told them that he knew nothing about the web site, but the judges didn’t believe him. He said he was forced to pose for the pictures, but they didn’t believe that, either.

They didn’t believe him when he told them he wasn’t gay. He told them he’d merely been curious about what it was like, but they hadn’t believed that it was only curiosity. Okay, he’d played around a little with friends, he finally admitted. But what of it? There was nothing wrong with experimenting, was there? After all, it was just with a few friends.

Even if he were gay, what business was it of theirs? He’d apologized for bringing in the porn, couldn’t they accept that? His answers became even more confused and defensive as he tried to find some way of countering their growing contempt and disbelief.

[10]

Finally the judge’s questions stopped. The prosecutor rose and said something. The presiding judge looked at him, obviously surprised. He asked the prosecutor a question. The prosecutor nodded, said something more, and gestured to a guard. A young man was brought in.

Lou looked at the youth in surprise. The boy was a Xyranian teenager, probably fourteen or fifteen, who’d been transferred into Lou’s jail cell after the two Xyranian men had been moved out. He and another Xyranian youth had been kept there just one night, moving out the day before the trial. Lou knew almost nothing about them. Neither boy could speak more than a few words of gutter English.

The Xyranian boy looked around fearfully as the prosecutor made a brief statement. Then the prosecutor asked him some questions, which the boy answered even more fearfully, nodding and pointing at Lou.

"He say you try to rape him" the prosecutor challenged Lou.

Lou looked at him in shock. "That’s not true!" The boy’s statements hadn’t been translated. "He’s lying! He has to be!"

"He say you force him down over cot at night, push prick in. He say he escape only because other boy pull you off, threaten to call guard."

"THAT’S A FUCKING LIE!!!"

The presiding judge said something to the prosecutor. The prosecutor nodded, turned back to the boy, and said something. The boy shook his head and babbled something, obviously terrified.

Lou’s lawyer got up and said something. The boy shook his head again. The lawyer yelled some accusation. The boy yelled back, once again pointing at Lou. It was clear that he was accusing Lou. He kept yelling and pointing as the lawyer asked more questions. Lou had no idea what either of them was saying.

The judge said something to the lawyer. The lawyer nodded, shrugged, and sat down. Then the prosecutor called an older boy in, the other boy who’d been in his cell.

The judge asked the second boy some questions. Then the prosecutor and his lawyer asked more. The boy kept nodding, looking serious, answering with quiet assurance. Lou’s lawyer finally just looked at Lou and shrugged.

After the two boys were removed, his lawyer said some words, the prosecutor said some words. The judges asked Lou’s lawyer some questions and then got up and left.

Lou remained standing in his cage, waiting. Everybody waited.

His lawyer talked to his dad, and then came over briefly to the boy’s cage.

With his gray hair, trimmed beard, and sardonic smile, the lawyer looked totally in it for the money. When he told Lou that everything possible had been done, given the circumstances, it didn’t make Lou feel any better. He knew that bribes had been paid, but didn’t trust the lawyer. For all he knew, any money paid to him had gone directly to the lawyer’s Swiss bank account and stayed there.

He asked the lawyer why he hadn’t objected to the interpreter’s perfunctory translations. The lawyer just looked at him contemptuously. "A full translation would have been worse."

"What did those two kids say?" Lou asked. "Did the judges believe them?"

"Who knows?" the lawyer shrugged. "They were well-rehearsed. We’ll soon see. The older boy’s testimony was the most damaging."

[11]

After maybe fifteen minutes, the judges walked back in.

Lou’s heart stopped. Time stood still. The chief judge pulled out a paper and began to speak. As the interpreter began to translate, Lou and his parents crossed their fingers and hoped.

"Louis Keltner" the judge read, "you are found guilty of smuggling the worst kind of obscene material into our country. The videos and magazines you attempted to bring in depict sexual perversion in its most extreme forms. You yourself are a pervert. You have admitted performing disgusting sexual acts. You have posted photographs of such performances on the Internet, to advertise your availability to other men. You have even displayed your indecent lust openly, here in this very courtroom."

He looked up from his paper to stare at the youth. "Your immorality is profound. You are without shame. And you are dangerous. Your predatory advances to that boy provide ample evidence of that. If you were not a youth and a foreigner, we would sentence you to be hanged for your perversion."

Lou stared back in shock. Hanged! God! He’d never even imagined that possible. They actually sentenced men to death here, just for playing around? Fuck! This country was so medieval! God! He wanted to be home!

The judge glanced at the youth disdainfully. "However much we are inclined to sentence you to that fate, your lawyer begs for mercy and apologizes for your insolence and corrupt mind. He reminds us that you are a foreigner, young and stupid and untaught."

"We do allow for that, and for the widespread immorality and perversion that prevails in your country. Your lawyer also argues that there is no proof beyond the testimony of the two juveniles that you forcibly attempted to rape the young boy in your cell. We acknowledge that, even though we accept their testimony. We also respect the pleas of your father."

"We are not a country without mercy. Your neck will be spared."

Lou’s heart was pounding, hoping against hope that he was hearing that his dad’s money was having an effect. Some money must have reached the judges after all. He kept his fingers crossed as the judge picked up his paper. With luck, he hoped optimistically, maybe they’d let him off with a fine. But his hopes were quickly quashed, almost before he’d had time to form the thought.

"Though we will show mercy" the judge continued, "you will not escape punishment. We cannot allow foreign perverts to corrupt young members of our society, whether by deed or by example. Nor we cannot allow your attempted rape of a young teenager to go unpunished."

He surveyed Lou’s family grimly. "Your boy’s offenses violate the laws of God, as well as the laws of this country. They demand --and will receive-- severe penalties."

The judge paused, looking back at Lou. "For attempting to smuggle obscene material into our country, you will receive a sentence of thirty years in prison. The sentence will be suspended after the initial year of imprisonment, upon evidence of good behavior in prison and as detailed further."

"Your indecency, degenerate acts, and attempted rape require separate punishment. For each of those offenses, you will receive the public punishment to your body prescribed by Shari’a law. You will also receive an additional jail term."

Lou looked at the judge in shock, horrified by what he was hearing. "You can’t be serious!"

"SILENCE!" the judge demanded, glaring at him angrily. "You will not interrupt this court!"

He looked out into the courtroom. "We do recognize, as we have said, that the offender is young and untaught. But the offenses he has committed are offenses against the laws of God. No one so corrupt and immoral can escape the penalties prescribed in those laws."

The judge looked back at Lou. "On the next day of public punishment, you will be taken to the central prison square. There, you will be stripped naked, tied to a punishment trestle so all can see, and then caned and strapped with all the violence and severity your perversion demands. You will receive the minimum of 100 lashes on your bare buttocks that the Shari’a prescribes for sodomites. How much more you receive, we leave to prison authorities to determine."

He looked out into the courtroom again. "Let all see the punishment God’s laws prescribe for sodomy!"

"OH, GOD!!!" Lou wailed. "GOD!!! THAT’LL KILL ME!!!"

"OH, GOD!!!" his mother echoed. She rose from her seat. "OH, PLEASE, SIRS!! HE’S MY SON!!!"

"Silence!" the judge ordered angrily. "You will not interrupt this court."

"YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!!" Lou yelled. "I’M AN AMERICAN, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!!! YOU FUCKING CAN’T!!!"

He turned toward his lawyer. "Please!!" he begged. "Tell them they can’t do this!"

[12]

His lawyer rose. Lou looked him hopefully.

"I apologize to the court for my client’s outburst" the lawyer said curtly. "I have warned him to show respect." He looked at his client scornfully. "I remind him again of that requirement."

The youth stared at his lawyer in amazement. Wasn’t he going to do anything? Lou watched as his lawyer sat down and said something to his parents.

The judge glanced at the youth contemptuously. "I will not tolerate further interruptions. You will remain silent while you are being sentenced." He looked directly at Lou’s family. "Nor will I tolerate disruptions by anyone else present. Any further outburst will result in punishment for contempt of court."

The judge turned back to Lou. "You have already shown your contempt for this court by your evasions and self-evident perjury. The lies you uttered while being questioned will also not go unpunished."

"Oh, God!" the youth whimpered.

The judge ignored him. "We find you guilty of perjury before this court, for which we sentence you to an additional six months in prison, along with a public caning of no less than fifty strokes."

"NOOOHHHH!!!" Lou howled. "YOU CAN’T DO THIS!!!"

"Silence!" the judge demanded.

"I DIDN’T LIE TO YOU!!! I DIDN’T!!!"

The judge glared at him. "I’ve warned you, boy! Be silent! Or you will be punished severely for your disrespect!"

"I WON’T BE SILENT!!!" the youth shouted. "I HAVE A RIGHT TO SPEAK!!!"

The judge banged his gavel angrily. "The prisoner will respect the orders of this court!"

"FUCK YOU!!!" Lou yelled angrily. He turned to his lawyer. "WHY THE FUCK DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING? YOU CAN’T LET THEM DO THIS TO ME!!!"

His lawyer just looked at him, shaking his head in disgust.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" Lou yelled at him. "YOU’RE IN THIS, TOO!!" He looked at the judges. "YOU’RE SADISTS!!! BASTARDS, ALL OF YOU!!! FUCKING SADISTIC BASTARDS!!!"

[13]

The judge banged his gavel furiously until the youth’s curses subsided.

"You were warned to stay silent" the judge said grimly. "You are in contempt of this court."

"Oh, fuck you!" Lou said angrily. "Fuck all of you!"

One of the other judges rolled his eyes and said something. The presiding judge nodded and turned to his colleagues. After a short whispered consultation, he nodded again and turned back to Lou.

"This proceeding will be adjourned, so you can be punished for your disrespect. You will immediately be returned to the central prison, where you will be caned and held in solitary confinement, until brought back to this court."

He looked at Lou contemptuously. "This proceeding will resume Thursday afternoon, at which time you will apologize for your conduct and hear the remainder of your sentence. We will see at that time whether you have learned from your punishment."

Lou stared at him in horror. "YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!!! YOU FUCKING CAN’T!!!"

The judge snorted disdainfully. "Be warned, boy. Any further contempt will be dealt with severely." He banged his gavel, gesturing to the guards.

"YOU BASTARDS!!!" Lou shouted angrily as guards came to seize him. "YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!! I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL!!!"

The judge who’d rolled his eyes glared at Lou and said something. The presiding judge just shrugged. The one who’d interjected said something more, obviously insisting.

The presiding judge said something to the guards, who held Lou in place. The first member turned to the other panel member, who nodded agreement and said something more to the presiding judge.

The judge shrugged again, finally nodding acquiescence. He turned back to the youth. "You will receive additional punishment for that outburst."

"Caned again!" the first member said adamantly.

Lou looked at him in surprise. He’d spoken in English.

"We all agree" the presiding judge nodded grimly. "You will be caned twice for your disrespect. The court’s adjournment of this proceeding will be extended to a week from Thursday, to provide sufficient time for the second caning."

"NO!!!" Lou screamed. "OH, MY GOD!!!"

Lou couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "OH, PLEASE!!!" he begged. "PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!!! PLEASE!!!"

The judge ignored him. "When this court resumes, you will be sentenced to an additional jail term for your disrespect. You would be wise to reflect on how you comport yourself, before reappearing here again. Perhaps you will learn something from your punishment. If not, you will receive more."

"OH, GOD!!" the teenager wailed. This was so much worse than anything he had expected. "YOU BASTARDS!!! THIS IS SO FUCKING UNFAIR!!!"

The presiding judge gestured to the guards. "Take him away."

"BASTARDS!!!! FUCKING BASTARDS!!!" Lou’s curses continued as he was dragged from the courtroom.