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Saudi blogger to receive 1,000 more lashes

October 19, 2016 at 6:20 pm

An activist of the human rights NGO Amnesty International holds a portrait of Raif Badawi in front of the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Brussels on 8 January 2021, calling for the release of the jailed Saudi blogger. – [KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images]

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who ran the Free Liberals forum and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for announcing his atheism online and insulting Islam, is set to receive more lashes.

According to co-founder of the Raif Badawi Foundation, Evelyne Abitbol, it has been announced that the Saudi government will resume with lashing Badawi.

“Our source is the same that informed us about the first 50 lashes M. Raif Badawi received in a public place on January 9, 2015. Our understanding of the information is that another series of lashes punishment will take place this time inside the prison,” Abitbol wrote in a blog post.

She then urged the Saudi government to release Badawi and to “stop the inhuman punishment”.

Badawi was arrested in 2012 for announcing his atheism and endorsing others to turn their backs on Islam, an act illegal in Saudi Arabia, and which could lead to a death sentence.

In 2015, the Saudi courts sentenced Badawi to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison. This has caused them to fall into diplomatic disagreements with other countries in the past.