A Saudi court has sentenced a activist to seven
years in prison and 600 lashes for violating the nation's
anti-cybercrime law, Human Rights Watch reported
Wednesday.
A Jeddah Criminal Court found Raif Badawi, who has
been in prison since June 2012, guilty this week of
insulting Islam through his website and in television
comments.
Reported Saudi paralysis sentence 'outrageous,' rights
group says
"This incredibly harsh sentence for a peaceful blogger
makes a mockery of Saudi Arabia's claims that it supports
reform and religious dialogue," said Nadim Houry, the
deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "A
man who wanted to discuss religion has already been
locked up for a year and now faces 600 lashes and seven
years in prison."
Saudi Arabia may block Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, others
His lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, told Human Rights
Watch that Judge al-Harbi read the verdict Monday. The
court is expected to send him a written notification by
August 6. They'll have 30 days to appeal.
Case separates family
Ensaf Haidar, Badawi's wife, said
she's devastated by the news.
"I don't know what to do," Haidar said
Wednesday. "Raif did nothing wrong."
Haidar and the couple's three children
now live in Lebanon.
Estranged from her family, Haidar
said it would be impossible to take her children back to
Saudi Arabia. The stigma is too strong there.
"You feel like everybody's accusing you," she said, close
to tears, in an April interview. "Like everybody's against
you, at war with you."

Imagine a religion you get whipped for in 2013

That is Islam for you.