Islam - Current Day > Raif Badawi - sentence nearly finished; Islam blows up another mosque killing dozens; Raif Badawi - sentence finished - still in prison!

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Quebec family of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi hope he will soon be released

Hurdles remain to reunite Badawi, jailed in Saudi Arabia in 2012,

with family in Eastern Townships

CBC News · 

Posted: Feb 26, 2022 4:53 PM ET 

The family of imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi hopes that he may soon be released. But advocates say Badawi still faces hurdles before being reunited with family in Canada. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

The family of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi says his release may be imminent, a decade after he was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for criticizing religious figures and promoting liberal views of Islam.

Badawi, whose wife and three children now live in Quebec's Eastern Townships, was arrested in 2012 and initially sentenced to 1,000 lashes, 10 years in prison and a fine of more than $340,000.

His story made international headlines in 2015 when, as part of that sentence, he was whipped 50 times in front of the al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah. The resulting international pressure forced the suspension of the remainder of his lashes, according to Amnesty International.

Now, after an unbearable wait, his family and supporters believe his release may be days away, as his 10-year sentence will have been served in full by Feb. 28. 

"My father was always giving us hugs and I don't even remember," said his eldest daughter Najwa Badawi, who is now a student at the Cégep de Sherbrooke.

"It's not very normal that a child doesn't even remember her father's hugs anymore."

Najwa Badawi, the eldest daughter of Badawi, was just a young child when her father was first jailed

a decade ago. She's now 18 and a student at the Cégep de Sherbrooke. (Radio-Canada)

Family fighting to bring him to Canada

Former justice minister Irwin Cotler, who has served as international legal counsel to Badawi's family, said there are still legal hurdles that Saudi authorities would need to drop in order for the family to bring him to Canada. 

"They would need to authorize that the other restrictions that were placed at the initial sentencing are no longer enforced," he said. That includes the fine and a 10-year travel ban.

"This is something that [his family has] been painfully awaiting now for 10 years," said Cotler. "I've seen it myself and seen the children — living deprived of their father has been very difficult."

Badwai's wife, Ensaf Haidar, shows a portrait of her husband as he is awarded the Sakharov Prize in Strasbourg, France, in this Dec, 16, 2015 file photo. (Christian Lutz/Associated Press)

Though progress has been slow, Saudi officials may wish to appear merciful in releasing Badawi now, according to Sylvana Al Baba Douaihy, a researcher at the society, law and religion research centre of l'Université de Sherbrooke.

"The crown prince [Mohammed bin Salman] has this ambition to repair his image and the image of the kingdom, which was pretty tarnished after the assasination of [Jamal] Khashoggi in 2018," she said.

'He should be proud' 

While she awaits his return, Najwa Badawi says she makes the most of the short phone calls she gets with her father, even if they have to stick to surface-level conversations. 

"We can't talk about real things because he's being listened to. He can't talk to us about how he's feeling," she said. "It's been 11 years that I haven't seen him. I don't know what he looks like and he doesn't know what we look like."

Najwa says her father should be proud that he fought to advance freedoms in his home country, despite the consequences. And inspired by her father, she hopes to study to become a lawyer. 

"I want … to be able to defend people who are in his situation," she said. "If I can help people, he will be proud of me. It will make him happy."

There are several articles on this blog on both Raif Badawi and his sister Samar Badawi who was released from a Saudi prison last July after 3 years for fighting for civil rights for women.

Attack on mosque leaves at least 56 dead

A powerful blast has rocked a site of worship in northwest Pakistan

Volunteers examine the site of explosion inside a mosque in Peshawar. © AP / Muhammad Sajjad

At least 56 people have been killed and almost 200 wounded following gunfire and an explosion at a mosque in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border on Friday, medics have said.

Updated reports from March 5th indicate 62 dead. ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for the atrocity.

Many of the injured remain in critical condition, meaning that the death toll is likely to rise, according to the spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) who provided the figures.

The attack targeted the Kucha Risaldar Mosque in Peshawar’s old city at a time when Shia Muslim worshippers were gathering for Friday prayers.

Two gunmen initially opened fire at police officers outside the building, Peshawar’s Police Chief Mohammed Ejaz Khan has said.

One perpetrator and one officer were killed in the shootout, while the second attacker managed to make his way into the mosque and that’s when the blast went off, according to Khan. There were some 150 people inside, he added.

The office of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province governor later confirmed that the blast was a suicide bombing. Investigators have been working to establish details about the incident, which “seemed to be a suicide attack,” he said.

One of the survivors recalled that he was just entering the mosque when the blast threw him back into the street. “I opened my eyes and there was dust and bodies everywhere,” he said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the bombing, but both Islamic State and Pakistani Taliban have been active in the area, carrying out similar attacks.

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi still held after completing 10-year jail term

RSF - Reporters sans Frontier

After 10 years of imprisonment, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi should have been released from prison on 28 February, but he continues to be held in Dahaban Central Prison, North of Jeddah. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Saudi authorities to release Badawi immediately and allow him to join his family, who now live in Canada.

His wife, Ensaf Haidar, had been counting down the days to his release date on Twitter without knowing for sure whether he would be released when the date finally arrived. RSF has contacted the Saudi authorities, but received no immediate answer.

Badawi ran an online forum called Free Saudi Liberals in which he discussed religious and societal issues with exceptional openness. After his arrest in 2012, he was eventually convicted of insulting Islam and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes, a fine of 1 million riyals and a 10-year ban on leaving the country after completing his jail term.

“Raif Badawi’s continued detention after 10 long years is outrageous. He should never have spent a single day behind bars, and now that he has completed the full sentence based on ludicrous charges, there is no legal basis for the Saudi authorities to continue to hold him. We call for Badawi’s immediate release as an urgent priority, and for him to be granted safe passage from the country to join his family abroad,” said RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire.

Based in Quebec since 2013, Haidar has never stopped campaigning for her husband’s release. She is now pinning her hopes on Canada, which could grant him Canadian citizenship and thereby facilitate his resettlement.

“The government now has a chance to stand in solidarity with us, alleviate our pain and recognize his singular contribution to the global human rights movement by granting him citizenship and securing his safe passage to be reunited with his family,” Haidar said in a recent tweet.

But Badawi will not be able to leave Saudi Arabia unless the 10-year travel ban is lifted. That is why Haidar has also written to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS) requesting a royal pardon. “Your Royal Highness, I appeal to the father and husband that you are. Our family’s fate is in your hands,” she wrote.

In April 2020, Saudi Arabia announced the abolition of flogging as part of the “Vision 2030” reforms proposed by the crown prince, which also include human rights reforms. Of the 1,000 lashes to which Badawi was sentenced, he received an initial 50 lashes in April 2015. Subsequent sessions were planned but were never carried out.

Saudi Arabia is ranked 170th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

Saudi Arabia Takes Two Curious Steps Into the 20th Century

Saudi TV airs controversial new series about

Jewish woman in the Gulf, in Ramadan

Saudi TV airs controversial new series about Jewish woman in the Gulf. The MBC TV drama series Umm Haroun. (Facebook/MBC)

Controversial Arab TV series that provoked angry responses airs the first episode about the life of a Jewish woman in the Gulf states during the 1940s and opens with a monologue from the protagonist – in Hebrew.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The new Saudi-produced television series “Umm Haroun” that has provoked a storm in the Arab world went on the air at the start of Ramadan featuring an impressive monologue in Arabic-accented Hebrew by the protagonist, Channel 12 reported Sunday.

The new drama on the Arab network MBC sparked controversy because of the subject matter – the life of a Jewish woman living in a Arab lands – and was slammed by critics claiming that any portrayal of Jews is a capitulation to Zionism.

Produced by the London-based Saudi-owned Middle East Broadcasting Company (MBC), the show “Umm Haroun” features well-known Kuwaiti actress Hayat al-Fahad, 71, in the role of a Jewish midwife and nurse, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“Before our footsteps fade away and before our lives fall into memory, we will be lost with the time that is left,” the leading character says. “On the staff of Moses that performed miracles, I decided to write about us and we knew that you would come back to us, I write and document everything about us. We are the gulf Jews we were born in the lands of the gulf.”

The show’s promotional trailers and ads had already provoked accusations from the Arab world that Saudi Arabia is engaging in normalization with Israel.

“The story of the series sparked a lot of controversy among followers of social networking sites, after a promo was published of the series that tells the story of a Jewish mother who is suffering because of her Judaism in the Gulf during the 1940s,” the Saudi24 news website reported.

The Hamas terror group fumed over the show, calling the series a “political and cultural attempt to introduce the Zionist project to Gulf society.”

“The character of Umm Haroun reminds me of [former Israeli Prime Minister] Golda Meir, the head of the occupation government, who was a murderous criminal,” The Jerusalem Post quoted senior Hamas official Ra’fat Murra.

“This is the goal of normalization: hatred, slow killing and internal destruction. The series aims to falsify history and gradually introduce Gulf society to normalization with the Zionist occupation, at a time when some [Arab] rulers are panting to build close ties with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to protect their thrones,” Murra added.

The promotional trailer from MBC said the series centers around the relations between Muslims and Jews in Kuwait during the 1940s, where approximately 200 Jewish families lived, the Post reported. The Jewish protagonist is from Turkey and the plot focuses on her as a social outcast in the Gulf because of her religion. She lives in Iran and Iraq before eventually moving to Bahrain to work.

Post reporter Khaled Abu Aker tracked angry Arab social media reaction.

“We have many successful and heroic women in the Gulf,” a woman named Hana al-Qahtan posted. “Why do we need to turn a Jewish woman into a hero in our dramas?”

An angry tweet from a man identified as Ahmed Madani said he could not understand why an Arab network would feature a television series about a Jewish woman during Ramadan.

Saudi24 reported on another Arab who defended the series: “I do not see the need to be sensitive to the ‘Umm Haroun’ series. The Jews lived in some Gulf countries, and they were also rooted in many Arab countries,” the unnamed person wrote. “They were oppressed … after watching the series, we may evaluate and judge it. If the goal is normalization, it is rejected by us.”

Filmed in the UAE, the show was directed by Egyptian Muhammad Jamal al-Adl and stars various Arab actors.

Saudi Arabia giving up caning

By John Torrendo BBC

Saudi Arabia is giving up raipoista criminal punishment. Whipping is expected to be replaced with imprisonment or fines.

Flagellation removal is part of reforms to Saudi Arabia led by the King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman strive to improve the country’s badly damaged identify the fame.

Caning in the headlines the last time in 2015, when Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to ten years in prison and a thousand lashes. He’s already flogged, but later caning is transferred to Badawi’s poor health.

Among others, the Sakharov human rights prize award winning Badawi is still in prison in Saudi Arabia.

Badawi still has about 2 years to go on his sentence which was for 10 years imprisonment and 1000 lashes. He received the first 50 lashes but has not had any further. Some fear he would not survive another 50 lashes, which might be the only cause for postponing them.

Now, if the 950 lashes are dropped from his sentence because of this new policy, will he get several more years added to his imprisonment? It would be cruel and unusual, but not surprising.

Twitter Now Enforces Pakistani Law?

BY CLARION PROJECT 

Twitter flagged a tweet by Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, for violating Pakistani law.

After posting a picture of a woman in a face veil, Haidar tweeted “Retweet if you’re against niqab.”

Ensaf Haidar is Saudi-born, now living in Canada.

In response to the tweet, Twitter’s legal team wrote Haidar a letter telling her she was “in violation of Pakistan law.”

Haidar posted the letter on Twitter, which provoked a social media storm deriding the social media giant.

“Since when is Pakistani law applicable to the rest of the world?" tweeted journalist Nazrana Yousufzai.

Haidar herself responded, “Jack (Dorsey) [co-founder and CEO of Twitter] tries to silence everyone who tells the truth … while he acts blind on the Anti-Semitic and the hate speech in the Arab world! In the end @TwitterMENA is ran by some extreme radical staff and Jake know that well!”

Haidar’s husband, a liberal blogger, was arrested in 2012 and charged with “insulting Islam through electronic channels” for moderating an internet forum that encouraged participants to voice their opinion about religion in the kingdom.

He was also eventually charged with apostasy. In 2013, he was convicted on several charges and sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. But in 2014, his sentence was increased to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of $266,000. The flogging was to be carried out over 20 weeks, but after the first 50 lashes were publicly administered in January 2015, the next set was postponed.

Haidar fled Saudi Arabia with their children and took refuge in Canada after her life was threatened in the kingdom. She has tirelessly campaigned for his freedom ever since.

Saudi Arabia Expels Canada’s Ambassador, Freezes All New Trade with Ottawa

By Rahul Kalvapalle
National Online Journalist Global News

In this Nov. 2, 2015 file photo, protesters take part in a rally outside the Saudi embassy in Ottawa to call for the release of jailed liberal blogger Raif Badawi. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Saudi Arabia has asked Canada’s ambassador to leave the country within 24 hours, just two days after Canada criticized the arrest of women’s rights and human rights activists in the Arab kingdom.

In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Canada of making “false” statements and interfering with Saudi internal affairs, and said ambassador Dennis Horak was no longer welcome in the country.

The ministry said it rejected Canada’s characterization of events in Saudi Arabia, and said it wouldn’t stand for outside intervention.

It added that Saudi Arabia would freeze all new trade and investment transactions with Canada, and would consider taking further action.

The move comes two days after Global Affairs Canada issued a statement criticizing the arrest of Samar Badawi, the sister of jailed dissident blogger Raif Badawi. Samar Badawi is the sister-in-law of Raif Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar, who lives in Canada and recently became a Canadian citizen.

Foreign Policy CAN -

 Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists.

Amnesty International said the arrest of Samar Badawi and another prominent female activist, Nassima al-Sada, was part of a larger crackdown on human rights in Saudi Arabia.

“These brave women represented the last vestiges of the human rights community in the country, and now they too have been detained,” Amnesty International’s Middle East research director Lynn Maalouf said in a statement.

And they seemed to be doing so well for awhile there.

Chrystia Freeland -

 Very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi’s sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi.

Samar’s brother Raif was arrested in 2012 and later sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for criticizing clerics.

He received 50 lashes in January 2015 during a public flogging but is not believed to have received any more corporal punishment since then.

Samar, herself, was arrested 2.5 years ago, but was, apparently released. Yet she chose to stay in Saudi Arabia. Was it because she has some access to her brother, or her willingness to be a martyr for women's rights where they don't exist? 

In any event our thoughts and prayers are with her and Nassima. 

What does this mean for Canada? I believe Eastern Canada gets all its oil from Saudi Arabia. Quebec has refused to allow an oil pipeline to go through the southeastern corner of the province so that the Maritimes can receive Alberta or Saskatchewan oil. Consequently, should Saudi Arabia turn the tap off, Canada has to quickly find another source of oil which could easily end up being another country with an appalling human rights record. Meanwhile, Alberta oil lies in the ground. Crazy, eh? 

What's the Difference Between Saudi Arabia and ISIS? Not Much!

NEWS FLASH: Samar Badawi, human rights defender & sister of Raif Badawi, arrested in Saudi Arabia

Samar Badawi and son Joud

Today's arrest of prominent human rights defender Samar Badawi is the latest example of Saudi Arabia’s utter contempt for its human rights obligations and provides further damning proof of the authorities’ ongoing campaign to suppress all signs of peaceful dissent. 

According to local activists, this morning Samar was arrested in Jeddah and transferred along with her two-year-old daughter Joud to a police station. She is believed to have been arrested at least partly in connection with her alleged role in managing a Twitter account campaigning for the release of her former husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair.

“Samar Badawi’s arrest today is yet another alarming setback for human rights in Saudi Arabia and demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission,” said Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program.

“Just weeks after Saudi Arabia shocked the world by executing 47 people in a single day, including the Shi’a Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, it has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for human rights. Samar Badawi has been arrested purely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression, she must be immediately and unconditionally released.”

This is not the first time Samar has been arrested or imprisoned for her human rights work, including campaigning for women's right to drive. In December 2014 the Ministry of Interior issued a travel ban on Samar to prevent her from travelling to Brussels for a human rights event.

Samar’s former husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair, is serving a 15-year prison sentence also in connection with his work protecting and defending human rights in Saudi Arabia. Hundreds of thousands of Amnesty International’s supporters campaigned for Waleed's release during Write for Rights 2015. 

Samar is a strong defender for women's human rights in Saudi Arabia. Last year she shared with us a heartfelt letter about Waleed, who defended her while she was in prison before they were married.

Raif Badawi

Samar's brother Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website for public debate. He received the first 50 lashes just over a year ago.

Amnesty International is calling for all prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia to be immediately and unconditionally released. You can take action for all peaceful activists in Saudi Arabia. 

We will continue to keep you updated as we learn more about this most recent arrest. Thank you for continuing to speak out for Samar, Raif, Waleed and all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.

Sincerely,

Hilary Homes
Campaigner, Middle East & North Africa
Amnesty International Canada 

P.S. Want to speak out? Here are 6 Ways you can help Raif Badawi and other activists in Saudi Arabia

Executing 47 people in one day is an act of barbarity that puts Saudi Arabia in the same category as ISIS - hell-bent on returning the world to the dark ages. Saudi Arabia doesn't deserve beautiful people like Samar and Raif Badawi and al-Khair. It is the brutal treatment of such good people that reveals the evil of Islam; it is Satanic, and Satan hates all that are good.

Please pray for these people and get involved if you can.

Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi has Sentence Suspended: Swiss Official

Royal pardon by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudia Arabia

in works

This is probably the best international news you will hear today,

let's hope and pray it is accurate

CBC News 

Montreal has been the site of several demonstrations in support of
Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi. (Thomas Daigle/CBC)

Jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is having his sentence of 1,000 lashes suspended, the Swiss secretary of Foreign Affairs has told a Swiss newspaper.

"I have been told his sentence has been suspended," Yves Rossier told the Fribourg daily newspaper La Liberté.

Rossier said he brought up the matter while on an official visit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"A royal pardon is in the works thanks to the head of state, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud," he added.

Badawi's wife and three children live in Quebec's Eastern Townships region.

Badawi was arrested in June 2012 for criticizing Saudi Arabian clerics on his website. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. He was also fined $266,000.

Because 1,000 lashes at once would likely be fatal, Saudi judges decreed that Badawi would be whipped in installments of 50 lashes for 20 weeks.

Badawi was flogged for the first time on Jan. 9 but  further instalments have been postponed.

20 Year Old Sentenced to Beheading and Crucifixion in Saudi Arabia

After losing his final appeal, a young Saudi Arabian activist is due to be executed in Saudi Arabia, followed by the appalling mounting of his headless body on a crucifix for public display.

While news like this is not uncommon in Saudi Arabia, human rights’ groups and Saudi critics are shocked by the nature of the execution as well as the weak case made against Ali Mohammad al Nimr.

Ali Mohammed Al Nimr - sentenced to beheading and crucifixion

Accused of participation in anti-government demonstrations and possessing firearms, Al Nimr was arrested in 2012 at the age of seventeen in the largely Shia province of Qatif. Although Al Nimr repeatedly denied the latter charge, a confession was allegedly forced out of him after his arrest by means of torture.

Al Nimr spent a short time in a juvenile detention facility, from where he was moved to prison when he turned 18 and sentenced to death in 2014 according to Amnesty International.

Condemning the sentence, Maya Foa of the legal charity Reprieve said in a statement: “Ali was a vulnerable child when he was arrested and this ordeal began.

“His execution—based apparently on the authorities’ dislike for his uncle, and his involvement in anti-government protests—would violate international law and the most basic standards of decency. It must be stopped.”

US talk show host Bill Maher highlighted Al Nimr’s case on television saying:  “If you haven’t used up all your heroism hashtagging for the clock kid, maybe do it for this guy,” referring to the recent case of a Muslim kid getting arrested for inventing a clock.

Many have taken to the social media to condemn Al Nimr’s sentence and the recent appointment of Saudi Arabian ambassador to lead an influential human rights panel has also come under heavy criticism.

H E Faisal bin Hassan Trad presents his credentials to Michael Møller (right),
 the Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
January 7, 2014. PHOTO: UN

Saudi Ambassador to UN to lead Human Rights panel

The United Nations has come under criticism over giving a key human rights role to Saudi Arabia despite the Kingdom’s notorious record on freedoms for women, minorities and dissidents.

Critics remarked the appointment is “scandalous”, observing it meant “oil trumps human rights.”

Ensaf Haidar, the wife of imprisoned liberal blogger Raif Badawi, said on her Facebook that handing the key role of a human right to Faisal bin Hassan Trad was but “a green light to start flogging [Raif] again.”

Raif Badawi
sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes
in 2013, then resentenced to 1,000 lashes and
ten years in prison plus a fine in 2014,
and upheld by the Supreme Court June 2015

Trad is Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the United Nations in Geneva, who has been elected as chair of a panel of independent experts on the United Nations Human Rights Council, an NGO named UN watch discovered.

The Saudi Ambassador will now be able to select applicants from around the world for legion of experts hailing from countries where the UN has mandate on human rights.

The UN body for promoting human rights around the world has long been the subject of criticism because it granted membership to various countries that had dubious human rights records.

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said selection made in June remained unreported until now. He said that it may have been a consolation prize for the Saudis after withdrew their bid to head the 47-nation council in the wake of international condemnation of the kingdom’s human rights record.

Neuer described the selection as scandalous and said, “Saudi Arabia has arguably the worst record in the world when it comes to religious freedom and women’s rights, and continues to imprison the innocent blogger Raif Badawi.

While Saudi Arabia enjoys some considerable influence in the world, and some degree of respect by other countries, it is only because they have vast oil reserves and hence, are very rich. But being rich doesn't automatically bring a society out of the middle ages and into civilization. The Saudis are still primitive barbarians and Islam contributes greatly to keeping this society brutal and backward.

Saudi Court Upholds Blogger's 10 Years and 1,000 Lashes

Islam cannot tolerate questioning, debate or truth

From BBC Middle East

Raif Badawi's family have warned he could die if the 1,000 lashes are carried out

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

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

In March, the kingdom expressed "surprise and dismay" at international criticism over the punishment.

At the time, the foreign ministry issued a statement saying it rejected interference in its internal affairs.

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.

Dictators don't allow political dissent, or even questioning (example Putin and Erdogan). But even less tolerant are the hierarchy of Islam. Islam cannot allow dissent from within for fear it will collapse; it cannot allow questioning, because it doesn't have any answers except blind acceptance of an evil book by an evil man; and it certainly cannot allow debate, because debate often leads to truth, and truth would be the end of Islam.

Saudi authorities sent his case for review as global pressure to free Badawi mounted.

Amnesty International activists held a protest demanding the release of blogger
Raif Badawi in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Berlin on 22 May 2015

Badawi received his first 50 lashes in January, but subsequent floggings have been postponed.

A shaky video taken on a mobile phone showed Badawi being lashed by a member of the security forces.

The footage prompted international protests which were repeated every Friday, the scheduled day for the beatings.

It is not clear why Badawi has not yet endured a second round though a medical report found he was not fit for the punishment.

Is anyone ever fit for 1000 lashes?

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.

Lord have mercy on Raif Badawi and on his family. Only You can save him now.