‘Free Saudi Liberals’ website founder sentenced to 10 years in jail and a thousand lashes

[Soumitra]

‘Free Saudi Liberals’ website founder sentenced to 10 years in jail and a thousand lashes

DUBAI: A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced the editor of an internet forum he founded to discuss the role of religion in the conservative Islamic kingdom to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes, Saudi media reported on Wednesday.

Raif Badawi, who started the "Free Saudi Liberals" website, was originally sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes in July last year, but an appeals court overturned the sentence and ordered a retrial.

Apart from imposing a stiffer sentence on Badawi in his retrial, the judge at the criminal court in the Red Sea City of Jeddah also fined him one million riyals ($266,600). Badawi's website has been closed since his first trial.

His lawyers said that Wednesday's sentence was too harsh although the prosecutor had demanded a harsher penalty, Sabq reported. The ruling is subject to appeal.

The prosecution had demanded that Badawi be tried for apostasy, a charge which carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. The judge in last year's trial had dismissed the apostasy charges.

Badawi was arrested in June 2012 and charged with cybercrime and disobeying his father — a crime in Saudi Arabia.

His website included articles that were critical of senior religious figures such as Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, according to Human Rights Watch.

The world's top oil exporter follows the strict Wahhabi school of Islam and applies Islamic law, sharia. Judges base their decisions on their own interpretation of religious law rather than on a written legal code or on precedent.

Rattled by the uprisings that destabilized the Middle East in recent years, Riyadh intensified a crackdown on domestic dissent with arrests and prosecutions.

In April, prominent Saudi rights lawyer and activist Waleed Abu al-Khair was detained incommunicado after appearing in court in Riyadh on sedition charges, according to his wife.

Also in April, a Saudi court sentenced an unidentified activist to six years in jail on charges including taking part in illegal demonstrations and organizing women's protests.

Another was sentenced to three years in jail for spreading lies against King Abdullah and inciting the public against him.

‘Free Saudi Liberals’ website founder sentenced to 10 years in jail and a thousand lashes - The Times of India

 

[Ayush]

are the lashes given together at once??

 

[madooxno9]

1000 lashes = Death assured . I think he will have it in timely interval.

But quite stupid system to be true , you beat the shit out a guy and then you heal him to beat him again

 

[SouryaKharb]

1000 lashes

 

[ranjeet]

I won't believe it unless I get confirmation from @al-Hasani
Anyway ... every nation has some internal probs. We should look at the positive sides of the country rather than the shortcomings. There have been positive and encouraging news coming out of KSA lately.

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

It's been 2 years since the news came out, we saw no lash or an imprisonment sentence of Mr. Badawi

 

[Cherokee]

It's been 2 years since the news came out, we saw no lash or an imprisonment sentence of Mr. Badawi

badawi means nomad right ?

 

[jaunty]

It's been 2 years since the news came out, we saw no lash or an imprisonment sentence of Mr. Badawi

So what is his status now? Isn't he being tried for apostasy which carries death penalty?

 

[ranjeet]

It's been 2 years since the news came out, we saw no lash or an imprisonment sentence of Mr. Badawi

Man you guys see the indo-pak thing though the religious prism. it's more like cousins fighting by taking cheap shot at each other's religion. So generalizing things doesn't help in the sub-continent.
hell before going through that thread about KSA natural beauty started by @al-Hasani I thought people go to KSA just for Hajj. You guys need to concentrate on the softer image to introduce the world about your culture and heritage.

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

So what is his status now? Isn't he being tried for apostasy which carries death penalty?

He staying at the Capital's downtown detention facility, which is practically a 5-star hotel.

If he was then he wouldn't have been sentenced for ten years - as the news is trying to suggest -

 

[jaunty]

He staying at the Capital's downtown detention facility, which is practically a 5-star hotel.

If he was then he wouldn't have been sentenced for ten years - as the news is trying to suggest -

OK I just read the news also the amnesty international report on it A thousand lashes and 10 years in prison for online Saudi Arabian activist | Amnesty International

I think this was the final trial. Apostasy charge was dropped but "Raif Badawi, co-founder of the “Saudi Arabian Liberals” website, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals (about US$266,631) by Jeddah’s Criminal Court.". I am not sure if someone would survive 1000 lashes and even if he does what would be his situation. Nice punishment for opening a website!

 

[HAIDER]

Damn 1000 lashes ....guy must have buns of steel...

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

Either you've been trolling or you might have been trying to make fun of yourself by exposing the level of knowledge which you possess in this case. In either of these two situations, you're doomed.

OK I just read the news also the amnesty international report on it A thousand lashes and 10 years in prison for online Saudi Arabian activist | Amnesty International

I think this was the final trial. Apostasy charge was dropped but "Raif Badawi, co-founder of the “Saudi Arabian Liberals” website, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals (about US$266,631) by Jeddah’s Criminal Court.". I am not sure if someone would survive 1000 lashes and even if he does what would be his situation. Nice punishment for opening a website!

No lashes to be carried, it just is an intimidating action. What is nicer is running away with someone else's girl, we aren't the type of people whom their women get raped and the rapists can get away with such vile act.

 

[jaunty]

No lashes to be carried, it just is an intimidating action.

OK. So since you know this and I guess everyone else does too, where is the intimidation. Everyone has a right to criticize something which he thinks is not right. That is not trolling. I think it is a barbaric punishment for opening a website and discussing things online. Similarly you also have the right to criticize something that you see wrong in India and unlike you I am not going to defend every freaking thing that goes on in my country. But I understand your trepidation, after all this guy was punished for his online activity, there is no surety!

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

OK. So since you know this and I guess everyone else does too, where is the intimidation. Everyone has a right to criticize something which he thinks is not right. That is not trolling. I think it is a barbaric punishment for opening a website and discussing things online. Similarly you also have the right to criticize something that you see wrong in India and unlike you I am not going to defend every freaking thing that goes on in my country. But I understand your trepidation, after all this guy was punished for his online activity, there is no surety!

Think of it as barbaric as much as you wish, you know nothing about the issue, and there is nothing you can do but burn. Speaking of barbarism, I think it is fair to say that you've got your own hands full with barbaric acts to keep yourself busy with.

Why should I bother about the good or the bad things that are taking place in India? There are enough Indians in the world to worry about their own problems. I only wish the best for them and all.