Al-Masdar News reports:
A Saudi court has sentenced a 28-year old man to ten years
prison, 2,000 lashes and a fine around $5000 for tweeting
that he was an atheist.
The man had refused to repent and expressed his beliefs
that he had a right to express them.
A law that defines atheism as “terrorism” is what he was
charged under.
Article one of the law defined terrorism as “calling for
atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the
fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country
is based”.
You can read the article
here.
Gen. Mansour al-Turki, the Interior Ministry spokesman,
said that Badawi was not arrested, contrary to the claims
of multiple human rights activists. Rather, “she was
subject to a questioning session by the district police
upon the request of the bureau of investigation and public
prosecution,” according to al-Turki.
Ali Adubisi, director of the European Saudi Organization
for Human Rights, said Badawi returned home.
“According to what I know up to this moment, there
are no subsequent steps relating to an investigation or a
trial,” he said.
Badawi’s case appeared to be connected to her role
in lobbying for the release of her brother, Raif, and her
former spouse, Waleed Abu al-Khair. Their imprisonments
have drawn the ire of human rights and free speech
advocates.
We will continue to track this case and provide updates
when possible.
A year after the international outcry over his public
flogging,
Raif Badawi, as well as dozens of other human rights activists
including Waleed Abu al-Khair, remain imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.
In an effort to multiply voices calling for the release of
Badawi and other activists, and for respect for basic human
rights in Saudi Arabia, our friends over at Amnesty
International have put together a short list of six ways you
can get involved in demanding action.
Keep reading
here.
As reported by the CBC in Canada:
A Swiss newspaper is reporting that imprisoned Saudi
blogger Raif Badawi could have his sentence of 1,000
lashes suspended, but Amnesty International has yet to
confirm the news.
The Swiss Secretary of Foreign Affairs Yves Rossier told
the Fribourg daily newspaper La Liberté that
Badawi’s sentence was suspended.
“A royal pardon is in the works thanks to the head
of state, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,” he
said.
You can read the full story
here. We will keep you updated if we hear anything.
Via the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom, and as reported
on CNN, we learn of some disturbing breaking news concerning one
of the cases featured on the Campaign for Free Expression
website:
A Saudi blogger convicted of “insulting Islam”
is expected to receive the second 50 lashes of a
1,000-lash sentence soon, his wife says. …
The lashings are to be carried out 50 lashes at a time, 20
weeks in a row. Badawi received the first flogging in
January 2015, but since then, the punishment has been
pushed back several times. …
In
a statement published on the Raif Badawi Foundation
website
Tuesday, [Badawi’s wife Ensaf] Haidar said that an
“informed source” told her that Saudi
authorities had approved resuming the floggings.
“The informed source also said that the flogging
will resume soon but will be administered inside the
prison,”
Haidar said. The sentence originally called for the floggings to be
carried out in public.
“It is worth mentioning that the same source had
warned me of Raif’s pending flogging at the
beginning of January 2015 and his warning was confirmed,
as Raif was flogged on 9th January,” she said.
We will continue to track this situation and keep you
informed if we learn of anything.
From the New York Times:
A Saudi blogger who was sentenced to prison and publicly
flogged on charges that he had insulted Islam was awarded
a major free -speech prize on Tuesday in London.
The blogger, Raif Badawi, was named the international
co-recipient of Britain’s
PEN Pinter Prize. He was chosen from a shortlist by the poetJames Fenton, who was the British recipient of the award in June. Mr.
Badawi is serving a 10-year sentence after his conviction
last year on charges including “violating Islamic values
and propagating liberal thought,” according to English
PEN, the writers group that bestows the prize. A Saudi
court fined him one million riyals, about $267,000, and
sentenced him to receive 1,000 lashes spread out over 20
floggings.
You can read the entire article
here.
The Campaign for Free Expression is an initiative of the Center
for Inquiry (CFI) to focus the public's attention and efforts
on one of the most basic and foundational human rights: the
freedom to express yourself. We hope you join us.
