Blogger Flogged Openly, Gets Jail Term & Ordered To Pay Fine For ‘Insulting Islam’

A Saudi Arabian blogger has been
publicly flogged after being
convicted of cybercrime and
insulting Islam, BBC reports. 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.

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.