Blogger Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison & 1,000 Lashes

[kpete]

Murdoch says Muslims must be held responsible for France terror attacks
News Corp boss tweets to say even peaceful Muslims must bear burden of deadly Charlie Hebdo death toll ‘until they destroy growing jihadist cancer’

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Objectively pro-Islamic fundamentalist

by digby

Before the self-righteousness of the hawks gets too far out of hand, perhaps they should consider this:

A Saudi blogger convicted of insulting Islam was brought after Friday prayers to a public square in the port city of Jeddah and flogged 50 times before hundreds of spectators, a witness to the lashing said.

The witness said Raif Badawi’s feet and hands were shackled during the flogging but his face was visible. He remained silent and did not cry out, said the witness, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity fearing government reprisal.

Badawi was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. He had criticized Saudi Arabia’s powerful clerics on a liberal blog he founded. The blog has since been shut down. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 1m riyals or about $266,600.

Rights activists say Saudi authorities are using Badawi’s case as a warning to others who think to criticise the kingdom’s powerful religious establishment from which the ruling family partly derives its authority.

London-based Amnesty International said he would receive 50 lashes once a week for 20 weeks. The US, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, has called on authorities to cancel the punishment.

Despite international pleas for his release, Badawi, a father of three, was brought from prison by bus to the public square on Friday and flogged on the back in front of a crowd that had just finished midday prayers at a nearby mosque. His face was visible and, throughout the flogging, he clenched his eyes and remained silent, said the witness.

Why should the flag-waving defenders of freedom think about that? Well ...


The second-largest holder of voting stock in News Corp. is Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a nephew of the Saudi king.

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MORE:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/objectively-pro-islamic-fundamentalist.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. from which the ruling family partly derives its authority.

[bluestateguy]

2. 1000 lashes will kill a man

And yet our government tells us that Saudi Arabia is a "friend".

[PeaceNikki]

5. That's exactly what they want.

The prosecution had demanded he be tried for apostasy, which carries the death penalty.

How vastly different is what fueled these assholes in Paris?

[samsingh]

3. that's a very good point - murdoch is in bed with the people committing this horrible punishment

[MisterP]

4. and ironically Waleed's from a Nasserist family that tried to overthrow the Sauds

for a constitutional system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talal_bin_Abdulaziz_Al_Saud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Princes_Movement