Saudi blogger Raef Badawi lashed in public for ‘insulting Islam

Raef Badawi born c. 1984, a Saudi Arabian writer and activist and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals. Badawi has stated that he was a Muslim but "everyone has a choice to believe´-or-not believe… Badawi was first detained on apostasy charges in 2008, but was released after a day of questioning The government banned him from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts in 2009The family of Badawi s wife subsequently filed a court action to forcibly divorce the couple on grounds of Badawi s alleged apostasy…. On 17 June 2012, he was arrested on a charge of insulting Islam through electronic channels, and in December of that year was also cited for apostasy, a conviction which carries an automatic death sentence. Human Rights Watch stated that Badawi s website had hosted material criticizing "senior religious figures… Human Rights Watch called for the government to the charges, stating, "The charges against him, based solely to Badawi s involvement in setting up a website for peaceful discussion about religion and religious figures, violate his right to freedom of expression"
Raif Badawi has been sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison! Help him!
Update2: (30.12.2013): Raif Badawi may face death penalty for apostasy
UPDATE1: 600 LASHES and 7 years prison for Raif Badawi, we have to stop implementing this court decision!!
Raef Badawi, a Saudi who is one of the establishers of the "Liberal Saudi Network", which angered Ultra-orthodox clerics of Saudi Arabia and has been sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison.
Originally, he was expected to be sentenced to death for apostasy, for instance, as published by AFP:
“A Saudi court on Monday referred a rights activist to a higher court for alleged apostasy, a charge that could lead to the death penalty in the ultra-conservative kingdom, activists said.
A judge at a lower court referred Raef Badawi to a higher court, declaring that he "could not give a verdict in a case of apostasy," a rights activist told AFP. Apostasy means renunciation of a religious faith.
Badawi, who was arrested a June in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for unknown reasons, is a co-founder of the Saudi Liberal Network with female rights activist Suad al-Shammari and others.”
On July 30, 2013 Saudi media reported that Raif Badawi had been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an Internet forum that "violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought". The court also ordered the website closed. On May 7, 2014 Badawi was re-sentenced to 1000 lashes and ten years in prison. He also received a fine of 1 million riyal (equal to about --$--267,00
Father of three children (Terad, Najwa and Miriam), he married Ensaf Haidar in 2002 in Saudi Arabia. His wife and children obtained political asylum in Québec, Canada in 2013.
According to Human Rights Watch in its review of Saudi Arabia s membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council, "Over the last year Saudi authorities have harassed, investigated, prosecuted, and jailed prominent peaceful dissidents and human rights activists on vague charges based solely on their peaceful practice of basic rights, particularly the right to free expression, including Mohammed al-Qahtani, Abdullah al-Hamid, Mohammed al-Bajadi, Abd al-Kareem al-Khodr, Omar al-Saeed, and Raif Badawi.Kacem El Ghazzali , spoke at the UN Human Rights Council representing the International Humanist and Ethical --union-- (IHEU) criticising Saudi Arabia for sentencing Raif Badawi to 7 years in jail and 600 lashes, IHEU called it a “gratuitous, violent sentence

Sources:
1. https://www.change.org/p/free-and-safeguard-the-liberal-saudi-raif-badawy-no-600-lashes
2. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Saudi-blogger-lashed-in-public-for-insulting-Islam/articleshow/45824671.cms
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi

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