First, they chopped off her head. Then they dragged the corpse through the air with a helicopter so that ordinary citizens could see what they'd done. To send a message, you understand.

A brutal drug cartel at work? No. A dramatic armed robbery gone horribly wrong? Not even close.

This is what sharia looks like in Saudi Arabia, where the rulers of the country claim to have the final word on the proper interpretation of Islamic law.

Did we need to mention that Ruyati Binti Satubi, the Indonesian maid who was beheaded, was first allegedly tortured by her employers over a prolonged period and subjected to a trial for the death of one of them, in which her testimony would have been given half the weight of a man's?

In a perverse bit of irony, this news is being reported by Press TV, known as the propaganda arm for the Islamic Republic of Iran. That regime routinely uses sharia law to justify the stoning of accused adulterers and the execution of dissidents and homosexuals by hanging from cranes. Iran and Saudi Arabia have had a falling out thanks to Shia-Sunni tensions in the region amid the Arab Spring revolts.

Indonesia is already preventing other prospective migrant workers from traveling to Saudi Arabia for work. Other countries would be wise to do the same.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist