June 7, 2015

"Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years of imprisonment on blogger Raif Badawi..."

"Speaking from Canada, his wife Ensaf Haidar told news agency AFP, 'this is a final decision that is irrevocable.'" 

He had set up, in 2008, a website called Free Saudi Liberals, which discussed social issues in Saudi Arabia, promoted freedom of expression and human rights, criticised religious figures and promoted liberal views of Islam.  
In 2012, Badawi was arrested and charged with "insulting Islam through electronic channels". For four years he had been running the Liberal Saudi Network, which encouraged online debate on religious and political issues.... Saudi Arabia enforces a strict version of Islamic law and does not tolerate political dissent....

31 comments:

TrespassersW said...

At the same time that Saudi Arabia is hosting a UN human rights conference. See http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/72560

The UN is pretty much the opposite of useful, innit?

Bobber Fleck said...

Saudi Arabia enforces a strict version of Islamic law and does not tolerate political dissent. It has some of the highest social media usage rates in the region, and has cracked down on domestic online criticism.

It appears they have embraced all of the best features of net neutrality, the NSA and the IRS.

Rusty said...

Everywhere you go in Islamland you find barbarity.

traditionalguy said...

In allah land the human has a right to get lashed, chopped, beheaded, crushed and stoned to help him or her to become Submitted to the loudspeaker proclaimed dominance message mistakenly called a Call to prayer.

The darkness and iron misery of sharia culture is a living death sentence with no pity.

Wince said...

I just took a look at the purported video of the first 50 lashes.

Looks rather perfunctory to me. Closer to "50 Shades" than "Passion of the Christ".

More shame than pain.

Not the kind of horse whipping I certainly imagined when reading the report.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4r_izRZYLw

jr565 said...

EDH , I would hope so. 1000 lashes at they level would kill anyone. Not that I'd want to be the recipient of those 1000 lashes either way.

Fernandinande said...

Next time put in a trigger warning.

JHapp said...

This problem only grows worse as we look the other way.

Gahrie said...

CoExist!

Unknown said...

lets be honest if saudis did not impose this type of punishment, it would actually embolden isis to assert that saudis are not extreme enough and it would radicalize a whole bunch of home grown saudi terrorists to target the saudi government for isis and we would have isis taking over saudi arabia too

just saying

Skyler said...

This brings to mind something I have been pondering for almost 20 years. With the Internet's ability to publish your opinions openly across the world, we may come to a point where there is a defacto international ban on free speech.

Sitting here in Texas I am free to say the worst things imaginable about Islam, and they would all be heartfelt, to be sure. But I'll be damned if I ever travel to an Islamic country now, they might decide I need 1000 lashes or worse. Will Islamic nations refuse to do business with banks that do business with me? I can easily envision this happening. Just notice how the Feds have destroyed freedom of speech in universities, it just takes the power of the purse.

I fear that someday the Internet will enforce homogeneity of laws across the globe, and those laws will not favor freedom.

MaxedOutMama said...

The new Saudi king appears to be cracking down, especially with a rise in executions.

So this was to be expected, I suppose.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Why not 10,000 lashes? Too extreme?

Lewis Wetzel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Owen said...

Skyler: great point. Grim prospect.

Michael K said...

The Saudis are "on the wrong side of history" as Obama would say. At least he would say it if they weren't Muslim.

n.n said...

In a liberal society, the punishment for offense committed against progressive liberalism, is 1 million dollars, and a lifetime as a political, social, and economic pariah. Liberal societies enforce a strict version of pro-choice doctrine and do not tolerate political dissent.

ProBegger said...

http://www.darcylee.com Wait till they start chipping us and we have a hud and full motion image and immersion with an AI all in our brain. Communication will be at thought level. But there will be punishments and hate all round in this new world that's inside of us. But they already have started. This world exists. Peoples values are quickly going to be challenged.

steve uhr said...

Too bad he is not an American. That would prompt further close evaluation of our relationship with Saudi Arabia, home of Bin Laden and 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers. Now that we found all that oil in North Dakota do we really need to keep kissing their dirty feet?

Etienne said...

Other countries rail about our death penalty. It's all relative.

Drago said...

The more that is written about islamist backwardness and violence, the guiltier the Christians become in the eyes of the western left.

Robert Cook said...

Our "justice" system can be as harsh, don't kid yourselves.

Michael said...

Robert Cook

LOL. Don't kid yourself that you aren't delusional.

William said...

Saudi Arabia is sufficiently bad, but wait till you see what comes next. The Ayatollah was no improvement over the Shah, and the Muslim Brotherhood was not a significant improvement over Mubarak. What could possibly be worse than the Weimar Republic? I think unknown's comments are on the mark.

Quaestor said...

Our "justice" system can be as harsh, don't kid yourselves.

Typical Robert Cook bullshit. Surprise us just for once and write something NOT self-evidently insipid.

Gahrie said...

Our "justice" system can be as harsh, don't kid yourselves.

Why, just the other day I saw someone being flogged in the public square for writing a blog on my way to work.

To paraphrase:

The United States is the worst country on Earth, except for every other country that has existed.

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Rusty said...

It's just a civil war. Nothing for us to worry about.

Robert Cook said...

Anyone who does not believe our prison system is inhumane and torturous and our trial system and sentencing practices inequitable simply isn't paying attention, or doesn't want to know.

Gahrie said...

Anyone who does not believe our prison system is inhumane and torturous

All those days enduring your daily workouts in the gym, three squares a day, every chance to educate yourself, free television, no hard labor, hell no work unless you want to.

Absolute hell.

I'd have them in stripes swinging sledge hammers and eating bologna sandwiches myself.

Bad Lieutenant said...

That is true, but it is also irrelevant. As usual, your argument boils down to, No evil on earth is worth addressing until every particle of dirt is removed from under our collective fingernails.

Do you wait your whole life for the knock on the door, Cook? Fearing or hoping, which?

Because in the world you depict and profess to believe is ours, why WOULDN'T someone come for you?