Saudi Liberal Raef Badawi Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison and 600 Lashes
In spite of repeated entreaties from Human Rights activists, the decadent court of Saudi monarchy has sentenced the intellectual Raef Badawi. Showing how savage the Salafi regime is, he is sentenced to lashes. Moreover he has to be in prison for seven years. Underscoring our earlier accusations regarding suppression of freedom of thought and expression by the monarchy, the judge has ordered to permanently shut down his web site. His 'Free Saudi Liberals' website undermined general security and ridiculed Islamic religious figures, the police and judiciary decided. He was arrested on 17 June 2012. Since then, the website was shut down and blocked within Saudi Arabia. According to Amnesty International, he 'was found to have developed diabetes' and 'taken to hospital for treatment on 28 December'.
Amnesty International said: "The charges against Raif Badawi relate to a number of articles he has written, including one about Valentine’s Day, the
celebration of which is prohibited in Saudi Arabia. He was accused of ridiculing Saudi Arabia’s Commission on the
Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (also known as the religious police) in the conclusion of his article:
“Congratulations to us for the Commission on the Promotion of Virtue for teaching us virtue and for its eagerness to
ensure that all members of the Saudi public are among the people of paradise”. The charges against Badawi also mention his failure to remove articles by other people on his website, including one insinuating that the al-Imam Mohamed ibn Saud University had become “a den for terrorists”.
On 17 December, the Jeddah District Court referred the case to the General Court in Jeddah, recommending that he
should be tried for "apostasy". On 22 December the General Court in Jeddah had Raif Badawi sign documents to enable
his trial for "apostasy" to proceed." (*)
As per a BBC report,
"The court had the power to sentence Raif Badawi to death
had it found him guilty.But it refused to charge him, referring
his case back to a lower court." (**)
We hereby demand the unconditional release
of Raef Badawi.
We call upon all humanists to raise the issue
wherever appropriate.
Please sign the petition and spread the word:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Amnesty_for_Saudi_journalist_Raif_Badawi_1/
TweetStorm:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23freeraif&src=hash
Please watch this video
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Ref:
(*) http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/uaa00313.pdf
(1) http://glykosymoritis.blogspot.in/2013/07/saudi-arabia-website-founder-sentenced.html
(2) http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/07/29/saudi-website-founder-to-be-imprisoned-lashed/
(3) http://radicalhumanists.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/the-threat-of-raaif-badawis-death-penalty-vanishes/
(4) http://iheu.org/story/iheu-protests-gratuitous-violent-sentence-handed-saudi-liberal-activist
(**) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21149851
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