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Saudi Arabia's apex court upholds sentence for blogger, says wife
[DAWN] Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's Supreme Court on Sunday upheld the sentencing of a Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, who was convicted of insulting Islam, according to a report on the BBC website. The blogger's wife told AFP that her husband's sentencing had been upheld by the kingdom's apex court. In July 2013, a court initially sentenced Badawi, who is in jail since 2012, to more than seven years in jail and 600 lashes, but an appeals court overturned the ruling, sending the case back for retrial following which he received a harsher sentence of 1,000 lashes along with a 10-year jail term. He was also ordered to pay a fine of one million riyals ($267,000, 192,00 euros). The blogger's case attracted worldwide condemnation when he was publicly flogged on January 9 this year. Badawi co-founded the now-banned Saudi Liberal Network along with women's rights campaigner Suad al-Shammari, who was also accused of insulting Islam and enjugged Please don't kill me! last October. The charges against Badawi were brought after his group criticised holy mans and the kingdom's notorious His flogging was postponed for the second straight week in January after a team of around eight doctors carried out medical tests on Raif Badawi and recommended against flogging. The blogger's case was referred to Saudi Arabia's apex court after international condemnation followed the first installment of 50 lashes in January. Posted by: Fred 2015-06-08 |
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