IF YOU AGREE LIKE AND SHARE THIS POST !!! PETITITION TO THE NEW KING OF SAUDI ARABIA, KING SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ: STOP RAIF BADAWI FROM BEING FLOGGED FOR BLOGGING!!! Update: 11am, Friday 9 January Raif Badawi was publicly lashed 50 times after Friday prayers today. Handcuffed and shackled, Raif was led to a square in front of the al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah, watched by a crowd. He was lashed on his back 50 times in just five minutes. Everyone could see his face... A security officer approached him from behind with a huge cane and started beating him. Raif raised his head towards the sky, closing his eyes and arching his back. He was silent, but you could tell from his face and his body that he was in real pain. The officer beat Raif on his back and legs, counting the lashes until they reached 50. When it was over, the crowd shouted, “Allah-hu Akbar! Allah-hu Akbar!” – as if Raif had been purified. Eyewitness account of Raifs beating Saudi authorities now plan to go through this same routine every week after Friday prayers for a total of 20 weeks, until Raif has been dealt 1,000 lashes - all because he advocated free speech. Raif Badawi (Arabic: رائف بدوي; born 13 January 1984, name also transcribed as Raef Badawi) is a Saudi Arabian writer and activist and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals. He was arrested in 2012 on a charge of insulting Islam through electronic channels and brought to court on several charges including apostasy. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes in 2013, then resentenced to 1000 lashes and ten years in prison plus a fine in 2014. The lashes are being carried out over 20 weeks. The first 50 were administered on January 9, 2015. The second set has been postponed twice due to Badawis poor health. 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 Quebec, Canada, in 2013. Both Raif and his sister Samar, who is also an activist, were educated to seventh-grade level. 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 Badawis website had hosted material criticizing senior religious figures. Badawi had also suggested that Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University had become a den for terrorists. 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 2009. The family of Badawis wife subsequently filed a court action to forcibly divorce the couple on grounds of Badawis alleged apostasy. Following Badawis 2012 arrest, Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. A spokesman for the group stated that, Even in Saudi Arabia where state repression is rife, it is beyond the pale to seek the death penalty for an activist whose only crime was to enable social debate online. Human Rights Watch called for the government to drop the charges, stating, The charges against him, based solely to Badawis involvement in setting up a website for peaceful discussion about religion and religious figures, violate his right to freedom of expression. Badawi appeared before a district court in Jeddah on 17 December 2012 charged with setting up a website that undermines general security, ridiculing Islamic religious figures, and going beyond the realm of obedience. That judge referred Badawi to a higher court for the charge of apostasy declaring that he could not give a verdict in a case of apostasy. On 22 December, the General Court in Jeddah decided to proceed with the apostasy case. The higher court refused to hear the case and referred it back to the lower court. 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 December 26, 2013, Badawis wife told CNN that a judge had recommended him to go before a high court for the apostasy charge which would result in a death penalty if convicted. 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 $267,000). Badawis lawyer Waleed Abulkhair has been jailed after setting up Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi human rights organization. He is being charged for setting up an unlicensed organization and for breaking allegiance with the ruler. His requests to license the organization were denied. On July 7, 2014, Abulkhair was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, followed by a 15 year ban on travel. The Specialized Criminal Court in Jeddah found him guilty of undermining the regime and officials, inciting public opinion and insulting the judiciary. Lawyer Waleed Abu Alkhair told the BBC that Mr Badawi, a father of three, had confirmed in court that he was a Muslim but told the judge everyone has a choice to believe or not believe. A few days after a court hearing Badawis wife, Ensaf Haidar started getting anonymous death threats. She fled to Canada with their three children. A group protests against the flogging of Badawi outside the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Oslo, Norway According to Human Rights Watch in its review of Saudi Arabias 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 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. In May 2014 it was reported that Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1000 lashes, as well as being ordered to pay a fine of 1 million riyals, for insulting Islam On January 9, 2015, Badawi was flogged 50 times before hundreds of spectators in front of a Jeddah mosque, the first in a series of 1,000 lashes to be carried out in over twenty weeks. The incident was condemned by Amnesty Internationals Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Said Boumedouha who said, The flogging of Raif Badawi is a vicious act of cruelty which is prohibited under international law. By ignoring international calls to cancel the flogging Saudi Arabia’s authorities have demonstrated an abhorrent disregard for the most basic human rights principles. Philip Luther, also of Amnesty’s Middle East and north Africa director said: It is horrifying to think that such a vicious and cruel punishment should be imposed on someone who is guilty of nothing more than daring to create a public forum for discussion and peacefully exercising the right to freedom of expression. Anne Sainte-Marie, a spokesperson for Amnistie internationale Canada francophone and a close friend of Badawis wife, believed that he could not survive the lashes. Zeid Raad al-Hussein, UN high commissioner for human rights said flogging is, “at the very least, a form of cruel and inhuman punishment” which international human rights law prohibits. Al-Hussein, of the Jordanian royal family, appealed for the flogging to be halted and for Badawi to be pardoned, “and to urgently review this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty.” Sebastian Usher, Middle East analyst for the BBC congratulates all those who protested on the streets and believes protests were effective. Usher further suspects Saudi leaders were unprepared for the scale of international protest that resulted from the flogging. Raif Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar said, after hearing about the flogging, “What I felt was indescribable. It was an indescribable mixture of sadness and pain... It was painfully horrible to imagine what was happening to Raif. Ensaf Haidar also said, “I appreciate all the attention that Raif’s case has been getting. I hope that all the governments in the world will intensify their efforts to pressure the authorities to stop what they intend doing to my husband. I believe they can do it, if they speak directly to the government in Saudi.” Polly Toynbee wrote in The Guardian, Today [the day demonstrations over Chralie Hebdo shootings were held] another 50 lashes with the cane rain down on Raif Badawi in Saudi Arabia. “Je suis Raif” is starting to trend on social media as he faces 19 more weeks of flogging for writing his secularist blog Free Saudi Liberals. Governments that flocked to march in solidarity for free speech in Paris last Saturday have done little about this atrocity – far worse when inflicted by a state than by God-delirious terrorists acting as divine executioners. If all those leaders linking arms turned their backs on any dealings with Saudi Arabia, whose Wahbabist insanity has been sent out to infect parts of the Muslim world, they would make more than a gesture for free speech. A woman at the above demonstrations held up a sign saying, I am Raif Badawi, the Saudi journalist who was flogged immitating the Je suis Charlie slogan. Further lashings were postponed twice because the wounds had not healed and Badawi is in poor medical condition, he is a diabetic with weak build. Badawi is to receive the punishment 50 lashes at a time every Friday for 18 weeks till the sentence is complete. Said Boumedouha commented after the first postponment, Not only does this postponement... expose the utter brutality of this punishment, it underlines its outrageous inhumanity. The notion that Raif Badawi must be allowed to heal so that he can suffer this cruel punishment again and again is macabre and outrageous. After the second postponment Said Boumedouha commented further. “Instead of continuing to torment Raif Badawi by dragging out his ordeal with repeated assessments, the authorities should publicly announce an end to his flogging and release him immediately and unconditionally. Raif Badawi is still at risk. There is no way of knowing whether the Saudi Arabian authorities will disregard the medical advice and allow the flogging to go ahead.”[33] The Saudi Supreme Court is currently reviewing the sentence. UK director of Amnesty International, Kate Allen said, “David Cameron and his ministers should have the courage of their convictions and say – loud and clear – that Raif Badawi’s case is an absolute disgrace, that this weekly flogging should be halted and he should be freed from jail. “The crime against Saudi law which he is supposed to expiate is simply that he ran a website called, with dreadful irony, Free Saudi Liberals. On this he discussed and advocated secularism, and mocked the cruel absurdities of the Saudi religious authorities, who denounce astrologers for peddling nonsense but themselves have people executed for ‘sorcery’. There is nothing he said which could be understood as an incitement to violence, and nothing which is not obviously true and commonplace outside the squalid little dogma that suffocates the human spirit in Saudi. Beyond the barbarity of the trial, the sentence and the punishment itself, there are other lessons for the world, though not those which the Saudi authorities would wish us to draw. Raif Badawi was flogged in public 50 times last week. He has 950 lashes and nearly a decade in prison left to serve - simply for blogging about free speech. Raif will be publicly flogged 50 times every week after Friday prayers until he has been lashed 1,000 times. Call on Saudi authorities to halt the barbaric punishment and to free this prisoner of conscience. (Amnesty International). Said Boumedouha of Amnesty commented yet again, “The world’s spotlight is shining on Saudi Arabia. If authorities ignore widespread criticism and unashamedly continue with the flogging of Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia would be demonstrating contempt for international law and disregard for world opinion. An online petition from Amnesty International calling for Bedawi to be released had got 450,000 signatures by 20 January and 733,257 by 22 January 2015. The hashtag JeSuisRaif, in imitation of Je suis Charlie is trending. The readiness of some Saudi doctors to do medical assessments prior to floggings has been questioned and this is seen as doctors taking part in acts of torture. The Los Angeles Times wrote, Its especially hypocritical for Saudi officials, who publicly condemned the acts of violence in Paris against the Charlie Hebdo staff, to condone the brutal beating of a citizen for freely expressing his opinions. UK Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond raised the issue with the Saudi embassidor for the UK and a spokesman for the Foreign office said, “We are seriously concerned by Raif Badawi’s case. The UK condemns the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment in all circumstances.” 18 Nobel laureates signed an open letter urging Saudi academics to condemn the flogging of Badawi. They hint that if Saudi academics feel they cannot promote free speech they could be marginalised internationally. Saudi authorities want their nation to be seen as a research hub and should be concerned over this. The Independent maintains many leading western scientists are uneasy about working with Saudi academics because of the inexcusable human rights situation there, these academics may refuse to work with Saudis if the open letter above is disregarded.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 21:00:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015