Sentence of 1000 lashes upheld
Saudi Arabia’s supreme court has upheld a sentence of 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for liberal blogger Raif Badawi despite worldwide outrage and protests from foreign governments.
Ensaf Haidar, Badawi’s wife, who was granted asylum in Canada, said she was ‘‘shocked’’ by the decision, which is final under Saudi law.
‘‘I was optimistic the advent of Ramadan and the arrival of a new king would bring a pardon for the prisoners of conscience, including my husband,’’ she said.
Now she expects the flogging to resume as soon as Friday, despite warnings Badawi, 31, who is in poor health, may not survive.
Haidar has travelled the world garnering support for her husband’s case since he received the first 50 lashes on January 9, outside a mosque in Jeddah.
The next lashing, due the following Friday, was postponed when doctors said he needed time to recover. No further lashings have taken place, however, although the Saudi authorities have not said why.
Badawi’s case became a cause celebre on the internet, where social media campaigns highlighted his plight. In March, Saudi Arabia expressed its ‘‘surprise and dismay’’ at the reaction, and ‘‘strongly denounced the media campaign around the case’’.
Amnesty International, which has led the charge over Badawi’s case, said the supreme court’s decision was ‘‘a further stain on Saudi Arabia’s already bleak human rights record’’.
Philip Luther, the charity’s Middle East and North Africa director, said: ‘‘It is abhorrent this cruel and unjust sentence has been upheld.
‘‘The Saudi Arabian authorities have displayed a callous disregard to justice and to the tens of thousands of voices around the world calling for his immediate and unconditional release.’’
Badawi was arrested in 2012 and charged with ‘‘insulting Islam through electronic channels’’ after his website, a discussion forum for beleaguered Saudi liberals, criticised the kingdom’s notorious religion police. A charge of apostasy, punishable by death, hangs over him, having been passed between courts without resolution.
Haidar fled with her three chil- dren to Quebec, where they received asylum. Canada’s government has made some of the strongest statements in defence of Badawi. There was anger especially when, two days after Badawi’s flogging, the Saudi ambassador to France attended a solidarity rally in Paris for those killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack.
Amnesty has called on European Union leaders to speak out against the punishment.
A witness described Badawi’s first lashing, in front of a crowd shouting ‘‘God is Great!’’: ‘‘He was silent but you could tell from his face and his body that he was in real pain.’’
A medical expert from the charity Freedom from Torture warned Badawi would suffer permanent damage if the lashes continued.
Haidar fears her husband, who suffers from hypertension, could die. She has written to the Saudi king to ask for clemency.
Far from halting cruel punishments, however, the new monarch seems to be increasing them. The number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year has already surpassed last year’s total of 90.