Saudi Arabia – Saudi blogger and father of three, Raif Badawi, 31, has been sentenced to receive 1000 lashes for allegedly “insulting Islam.” The lashes are to be delivered fifty at a time, and Badawi, who is ill and frail, will most likely perish if the charges aren’t lifted. This judgement comes despite having received criticism from the United Nations, United States, European Union, Canada, and many others around the world.
The flogging sentence comes with ten years in prison, and was upheld by Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court. It can only be overturned by a pardon from King Salman. Badawi’s lawyer, Walid Abu al-Khair, was also jailed for representing him.
Badawi has been accused of insulting Islam on his blog, on which he posted:
“Muslims in Saudi Arabia not only disrespect the beliefs of others, but also charge them with infidelity—to the extent that they consider anyone who is not Muslim an infidel. They also, within their own narrow definitions, consider non-Hanbali [the Saudi school of Islam] Muslims as apostates. How can we be such people and build… normal relations with six billion humans, four and a half billion of whom do not believe in Islam?”
He continues in another post:
“Secularism respects everyone and does not offend anyone… Secularism is the practical solution to lift countries (including ours) out of the third world and into the first world.”
These comments came in 2011, when the “Arab Spring” briefly washed over the Arab world. The Arab Spring refers to the mistaken belief, which many had at the time, that democracy had reached their region. As it turned out, the Arab Spring became a wave of religious terror and counter-terror as Saudi Arabian officials brought it to a halt.
Saudi Arabia has been described as “the incubator and citadel of Islamic fascism,” also known as Wahhabism. Religion and politics are inseparable in this region, and many offenders run the risk of public beheading—a hallmark in the Saudi Kingdom.
Raif Badawi and his children before his 2012 arrest.
Raif Badawi was arrested with Souad al-Shammari in 2012, and has since been held in prison in Jeddah. The two men had created a website together called the Saudi Liberal Network, and it was promptly shut down by authorities when Badawi posted his criticisms.
Originally, Badawi had been sentenced to 600 lashes and seven years in prison, but after he appealed the sentence, the court raised the sentence to 1000 lashes and ten years in prison. According to the Gatestone Institute International Policy Council:
“In the interim Badawi was given 50 lashes in a Jeddah public square in January of this year, while further lashings were suspended on medical grounds. Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, fears the lashings will resume—according to court order the 1000 lashes are to be completed in 20 sessions in front of a mosque—and could be fatal for her husband.”
Badawi’s wife has since relocated to Quebec, Canada, where she has found refuge. Many across Quebec have expressed their support for this family, and have condemned Badawi’s punishment. Protests have ensued, and demands have been made for his release from Saudi Arabia, to join his family in Canada.
In response to a Quebec National Assembly resolution, that was passed unanimously in February, the Saudi ambassador responded to Canada:
“The Kingdom does not accept at all any attack on it in the name of human rights especially when its constitution is based on Islamic law, which guarantees the rights of humans and preserves his blood, money, honour and dignity.”
In a statement from Joe Stork-deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch:
“Saudi authorities believe they are the ones under attack while Raif Badawi waits to be publicly flogged merely for expressing his peaceful opinions. All Saudi efforts to improve the country’s image internationally cannot overcome this ugly message of intolerance.”
The attacks against those who speak out are widespread. Souad al-Shammari, who had been arrested with Badawi, has been released from prison; however, his lawyer—who is also an activist—has been sentenced to 15 years for his criticism of Saudi human rights. Activist and blogger, Fadhil al-Manasif, has been sentenced to 14 years, and Mohammed al-Bajadi, founding member of one of the few Saudi human rights groups, has been sentenced to 10 years.
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Sources:
Burke, Jason. The Guardian. Jun 11, 2015. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/11/saudi-blogger-raif-badawi-next-lashes-friday)
Mansur, Salim. Gatestone Institute. Jun 11, 2015. (http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5949/badawi-lashing-saudi-arabia)
Mehta, Hemant. Patheos. Jun 13, 2015. (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/06/13/quebec-government-grants-certificate-allowing-raif-badawi-to-live-there-if-he-can-get-out-of-saudi-arabia/?ref_widget=gr_trending&ref_blog=grails&ref_post=atheist)
What about the hundreds of Egyptians who has been sentenced to death en mass which are obviously politically motivated, are those deaths less brutal than 1000 lashes. What about the death that Israel rains upon Gaza each year killing thousands of little kids? Don’t you see the pattern? 3 nations with very bad human rights record all “allies” of the USA, but then the US has its own bloody record of torture, kidnappings, secret prisons and the bloodiest of all, drone attacks-that wipe out whole villages. upto 4 million killed and millions disappeared, what CAN we expect from such a nation, or their allies.
Any country, regime, religion or ideology that is this afraid of words deserves, indeed needs, to perish.