Saudi Arabia Blogger To Be Flogged 1000 Strokes Publicly For Insulting Islam.
Saudi Arabis has lashed a liberal
blogger 50 times in public, despite the
widespread of international outrage
and calls for clemency from human
right group. Hillel Neuer, the Executive Director of
UN watch, said on his twitter handle
that blogger and activist, Raif Badawi,
was lashed outside a mosque in the
Red Sea Costal City of Jeddah on
Friday. Amnesty International says
Badawi, who started the “Free
Saudi Liberals” website, was
sentenced to 10 years in prison
and 1,000 lashes on charges
related to accusations he insulted Islam on the online forum. He was also ordered by Jeddah’s
Criminal Court to pay a fine of $
266,000. “It is horrifying to think that such
a vicious and cruel punishment
should be imposed on someone
who is guilty of nothing more
than daring to create a public
forum for discussion and peacefully exercising the right to
freedom of expression,” Philip
Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East and
North Africa Director, said. “Saudi Arabian authorities must
immediately halt all plans to carry
out this brutal sentence,” he said. The United States had also
appealed to Saudi Arabia to
cancel the sentence. State Department spokeswoman,
Jen Psaki, said the US was
“greatly concerned.” She called
the 1,000 lashes an “inhumane”
response to someone exercising
his right to freedom of expression and religion. “The United States government
calls on Saudi authorities to
cancel this brutal punishment
and to review Badawi’s case and
sentence,” Psaki said. Around 14,000 people have
signed an online petition calling
on Saudi’s King Abdullah to
pardon Badawi. Rights groups and activists say
his case is part of a wider
clampdown on dissent
throughout the kingdom.
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