Saudi Arabia: 10 year in jail, 1,000 lashes for blogger Raif Badawi

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A Saudi newspaper close to the government reported that he had lost his appeal against an earlier, more lenient sentence of seven years and three months in jail and 600 lashes.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: BBC News / Arab News
By Media outlets | May 7, 2014

A Saudi court has imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi for 10 years for "insulting Islam" and setting up a liberal web forum, local media report.

He was also sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ordered to pay a fine of 1 million riyals ($266,000; £133,000).

Amnesty International called the verdict "outrageous" and urged the authorities to quash the verdict.

Mr Badawi, the co-founder of a website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was arrested in 2012.

A Saudi newspaper close to the government reported that he had lost his appeal against an earlier, more lenient sentence of seven years and three months in jail and 600 lashes.

Last year he was cleared of apostasy, which could have carried a death sentence.

Mr Badawi had previously called for 7 May to be a "day for Saudi liberals". The website he set up has since been closed.

"Ruthless campaign"

Amnesty International describes him as a "prisoner of conscience" and has called for his release.

"Raif Badawi is the latest victim to fall prey to the ruthless campaign to silence peaceful activists in Saudi Arabia," it said in a statement.

Last October a Saudi journalist was freed after spending a year and a half in prison for writing insulting tweets about the Prophet Muhammad.

Hamza Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia for Malaysia in 2012 but was extradited just days later. He was released last year after making a public apology.

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Local reports

A local news website, Arab News, claimed "Saudi bloggers backed the court decision and said the man [Raif Badawi], being an apostate, deserved harsher punishment."

“The punishment issued by the court is soft compared to the enormity of the crime committed by the man,” Arab News said quoting Bandar, "a blogger."

Arab News further claimed Dr. Mohammed Badahdah, assistant secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, told the outlet that "the verdict was issued mainly because of his attack on Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)."

“These are red lines that nobody should cross,” Badahdah warned, according to Arab News. "Badahdah criticized the double standard practiced by international human rights organizations that call for the release of Badawi."

“These organizations close their eyes on rights violations in Syria, Burma and other countries,” he pointed out, according to Arab News.

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