Saudi court upholds blogger's 10 years and 1,000 lashes

[GennGreymane]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle...e=news_central

Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years of imprisonment on blogger Raif Badawi, despite a foreign outcry.

Speaking from Canada, his wife Ensaf Haidar told news agency AFP, "this is a final decision that is irrevocable."
In March, the kingdom expressed "surprise and dismay" at international criticism over the punishment.
At the time, the foreign ministry issued a statement saying it rejected interference in its internal affairs.
In 2012, Badawi was arrested and charged with "insulting Islam through electronic channels".
For four years he had been running the Liberal Saudi Network, which encouraged online debate on religious and political issues.
Saudi authorities sent his case for review as global pressure to free Badawi mounted.
Amnesty International activists held a protest demanding the release of blogger Raif Badawi in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Berlin on 22 May 2015

Protests were held following Badawi's first flogging by the kingdom
Badawi received his first 50 lashes in January, but subsequent floggings have been postponed.
A shaky video taken on a mobile phone showed Badawi being lashed by a member of the security forces.
The footage prompted international protests which were repeated every Friday, the scheduled day for the beatings.
It is not clear why Badawi has not yet endured a second round though a medical report found he was not fit for the punishment.
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.

[Themius]

Ah yes, the country that days after claiming blasphemy over a blog dared to march in Paris over the Charlie attacks.

[Deleted]

They are our best allys in the ME and good customers for weapons probably allright.

[Easo]

Barbarians in the 21st century.
Go on, infract me.

[Deleted]

Barbarians in the 21st century.
Go on, infract me.

Why you didnt generalize, insult based on ethnic or faith group or sterotype? o.O

You would say the same about North Korea I assume.

[Deleted]

Who are you to judge their way of life? I wonder if one can survive 1000 lashings though. Might as well behead the guy...

[Bakis]

Who are you to judge their way of life? I wonder if one can survive 1000 lashings though. Might as well behead the guy...

Not their way of life but their rule of law. You would as well if you actually read up a bit....
Even though their way of life is something this planet would be better off without that is not what this case is about.

[AeneasBK]

Who are you to judge their way of life? I wonder if one can survive 1000 lashings though. Might as well behead the guy...

They are done in 100 installments of 10 lashes I believe.

[Independent voter]

I bet he don't do that again.

[Delekii]

Who are you to judge their way of life? I wonder if one can survive 1000 lashings though. Might as well behead the guy...

Someone who believes that whipping someone with a piece of leather to inflict extreme pain and extraordinary scarring is thoroughly wrong. This part of their way of life is disgusting. The country is one of the most extreme barbaric in their practices of torture toward human beings, and yet is tolerated because they have something the rest of the world wants.

[draganid]

i like how saudi arabia is arguably the worst offender in the middle east for suppression of freedom and breeding of terrorism and yet they get a free pass essentially to do whatever because they are pals with the usa and hate iran

[Spl4sh3r]

Religion shouldn't matter when its political/law enforcement. Insulting a religion shouldn't even be a crime, only if you insult the religious people within the religion should it be a crime.

[luc54]

i like how saudi arabia is arguably the worst offender in the middle east for suppression of freedom and breeding of terrorism and yet they get a free pass essentially to do whatever because they are pals with the usa and hate iran

Just proves how they have nothing to do with the atrocities that happen in countries, but rather the interests of the countries themselves. They don't care about the injustices, but use them as excuses to try to justify it to general public.

[Nachturnal]

Country still living in the 6th century. News at 11.

[Bakis]

i like how saudi arabia is arguably the worst offender in the middle east for suppression of freedom and breeding of terrorism and yet they get a free pass essentially to do whatever because they are pals with the usa and hate iran

Saudi Arabia 'seeking to head United Nations Human Rights Council and its not a joke, its actually a real possibility.
Im sure Khmer Rouge, CCCP, Nazi Germany would have been equally fit to head it.
And now the conflicts in jemen etc is spilling out inside SA, the royal family will become even more totalitarian and brutal.

But as you say, they got oil, but sooner or later....

[Deleted]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle...e=news_central

The ruling elite of Saudi Arabia genuinely don't understand that what they're doing is wrong. They're literally bred into leadership, their corruption is total and they're fed with a golden spoon all their life, being given anything and everything they want, whenever they want it. They genuinely don't understand what pain and empathy is. They sincerely believe that they are in the right in everything they do and that questioning them is absurd.
I'm not even exaggerating. It's beyond tragic.

[draganid]

The ruling elite of Saudi Arabia genuinely don't understand that what they're doing is wrong. They're literally bred into leadership, their corruption is total and they're fed with a golden spoon all their life, being given anything and everything they want, whenever they want it. They genuinely don't understand what pain and empathy is. They sincerely believe that they are in the right in everything they do and that questioning them is absurd.
I'm not even exaggerating. It's beyond tragic.

they get everything they want but the people cant! thats the absurd part is the hypocrisy. all those saudi princes having their own private nightclubs with alchohol, drugs and bitches left right and centre

[Easo]

Why you didnt generalize, insult based on ethnic or faith group or sterotype? o.O

You would say the same about North Korea I assume.

I dont get your point?
And if you realy want to know what I think, no, they are not barbarians, but they are close enough. Mass executions should have been thing of a past.

[Deleted]

Religion shouldn't matter when its political/law enforcement. Insulting a religion shouldn't even be a crime, only if you insult the religious people within the religion should it be a crime.

Most religious people agree with that point of view... but Saudi's aren't most people. That country is not only a breeding ground for extremist thinking, but a main exporter of it as well.
This news comes as no surprise to me because I'm more than confident that they can come up with worse.

[Bakis]

The ruling elite of Saudi Arabia genuinely don't understand that what they're doing is wrong. They're literally bred into leadership, their corruption is total and they're fed with a golden spoon all their life, being given anything and everything they want, whenever they want it. They genuinely don't understand what pain and empathy is. They sincerely believe that they are in the right in everything they do and that questioning them is absurd.
I'm not even exaggerating. It's beyond tragic.

Actually it can be simplified into something as small as acknowledging that the royal family are masters at balancing:
the governing, keeping the clergy just happy enough and having oil.