"The Jaws of the Wolf"

Somebody should turn this story into a new television pilot.

When witchcraft strikes, never fear. The Anti-Witchcraft Squad of Saudi Arabia is on the case! Bonus points for centering the show around an older traditional Muslim agent paired up with a hip, impulsive youngster that he can't stand but who nevertheless manages to save the day over and over again. Because of all cop shows ever. Here's the pitch:

When the severed head of a wolf wrapped in women's lingerie turned up near the city of Tabouk in northern Saudi Arabia this week, authorities knew they had another case of witchcraft on their hands, a capital offence in the ultra-conservative desert kingdom.

Agents of the country’s Anti-Witchcraft Unit were quickly dispatched and set about trying to break the spell that used the beast’s head.

Wow, that sounds like a tough case. Hard to film, too, since I'm not sure you can even show women's lingerie on TV in Saudi Arabia. A severed wolf's head, on the other hand, is no problem. As an aside, what's with all the spells involving dead things lately, like weasels and goats? Could this be the start of some sort of pattern?

In the case of the wolf's head, the Anti-Witchcraft Unit in Tabouk was able to break the spell. The Saudi daily Okaz reported on Monday that the unknown family that had fallen victim to the spell had been "liberated from the jaws of the wolf.”

Whew! That's a relief. Clearly the magick of the Anti-Witchcraft Squad is mighty! But that raises a question - doesn't Islam ban magick? So where is the squad finding its sorcerers? Given the legal climate in Saudi Arabia I can't blame anyone for wanting to keep a low profile, but if counter-spells are being set in motion somebody must be casting them.

All joking aside, the disturbing part of this story is that a modern government has set up an agency specifically charged with persecuting magicians. Odds are a lot of the folks the squad rounds up won't be guilty of anything but having unusual spiritual beliefs, and since "witchcraft" is a capital crime in Saudi Arabia those beliefs could get them killed.