Saudi blogger Badawi 'flogged for Islam insult'

[saif]

Saudi blogger Badawi 'flogged for Islam insult'

Mr Badawi will reportedly be flogged weekly until he has received 1,000 lashes

A Saudi Arabian blogger has been publicly flogged after being convicted of cybercrime and insulting Islam, reports say.
Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail, was flogged 50 times. The flogging will be carried out weekly, campaigners say.
Mr Badawi, the co-founder of a now banned website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was arrested in 2012.
Rights groups condemned his conviction and the US appealed for clemency.
On Thursday state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki urged the Saudi authorities to "cancel this brutal punishment" and to review his case.
In addition to his sentence, Mr Badawi was ordered to pay a fine of 1 million riyals ($266,000; £175,000).
In 2013 he was cleared of apostasy, which could have carried a death sentence.
Last year Mr Badawi's lawyer was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of a range of offences in an anti-terrorism court, the Associated Press news agency reported.
'Act of cruelty'
The flogging took place outside a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after Friday prayers, witnesses said.
AFP news agency, quoting people at the scene, said Mr Badawi arrived at the mosque in a police car and had the charges read out to him in front of a crowd.
He was then made to stand with his back to onlookers and whipped, though he remained silent, the witnesses said.
The sentence was widely condemned by human rights groups.
"The flogging of Raif Badawi is a vicious act of cruelty which is prohibited under international law," said Said Boumedouha of Amnesty International.
"By ignoring international calls to cancel the flogging Saudi Arabia's authorities have demonstrated an abhorrent disregard for the most basic human rights principles."
Saudi Arabia enforces a strict version of Islamic law and does not tolerate political dissent. It has some of the highest social media usage rates in the region, and has cracked down on domestic online criticism, imposing harsh punishments.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30744693

 

[Precious Star]

Is this surprising? Muslim governments need to tone it down. When I was in Syria before the war, I was trying to take pictures of the posters of Assad and his father (just because I thought it was so unbelievably ridiculous that they woukd have life size posters of these guys outside on the street) but my tour guide told me to put my camera away or I would be arrested.

Of course that is no where as horrific as flogging -- I'm just saying that Syria like many arab countries including Saudi has no problem in inflicting harsh and inhumane punishments for seemingly victimless and benign "crimes"

 

[Mabsoot]

Syria's government like many others have very little to do with Islam. I think that if Saudi just ignored the criticisms and did their bit for the good of their people nobody would have heard of the "Liberal Saudi Network". Similarly if people did not shine a light on the original cartoons, the protests would not have happened or any exposure to the cartoons. The irony is that one or two Muslims strived hard to get those cartoons seen by everyone. Their intention was to condemn, but they ended up foolishly propagating the hatred.

The latest terrorist actions are similarly hurtful to the Muslims and unjustified.

 

[MeadowDust]

Is the crime for apostasy death? Or is it death only if the apostate was going to betray the governments or the ruling power by telling their secrets to outsiders?