UnNews:Saudi blogger: 10th round of flogging cancelled
Sunday, February 8, 2015
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- A final session of flogging for a Saudi blogger on the 10th and last day of a scheduled set of 100 lashes per day was postponed after the accused was pronounced dead. The reason why Raif Badawi received a final reprieve Friday was because doctors determined he was too far gone from his first 900 lashings to suffer any more, according to Human Rights Watch (Saudi Arabia) Pvt. Ltd.
Badawi was sentenced last year to 1000 lashes with rusty barbed wire, to be meted out 100 lashes per day for 10 consecutive days, after a Jeddah court convicted him of insulting Islam by drawing a stick figure of the Prophet.
Badawi started a blog called “Naughty Saudi” in 2008 to encourage doodles about Islam, particularly to ridicule the Nation's Mutaween or dreaded religious police for their interference in Saudis’ personal lives.
In his criticisms of the Religious Police, Badawi gave some examples of the Mutaween’s objectionable activities, such as:
- Mutaween members caused one man's death, which occurred while he was being boiled in oil. He was arrested and condemned for speaking Pig Latin with an unmarried female named Siri on an iPhone.
- One Mutaween officer burned a young Saudi woman to death who had converted to Christianity (his own daughter).
- A young Lebanese man was arrested and stomped by an elephant for possession of illegal and immoral Tarot Cards.
- A foreigner named Jack Bauer was disemboweled for hindering devout Muslim terrorist plots.
- A sinner accused of reading Playgirl Magazine during “prayer time” had his eyes gouged-out.
- The public stoning of a loose woman accused of full-facial nudity.
- Be-handing a Camel feed lender for charging interest of 0.01% per melinnium.
- Be-heading a person named Joseph for claiming to be God, the father of Jesus.
The Mutaween have also conducted over 40 public beheadings for moral crimes ranging from homosexual all the way to heterosexual offenses in the last week alone. According to Badawi the Saudi Government is responsible for many more beheadings than Islamic State could ever boast.
Legally speaking, Badawi was officially charged with “adopting a thought,” “founding a website,” and ”insulting Islam,” but he was only convicted of the latter charge, which was provable beyond a reasonable doubt.
His punishment commenced when he received his first 100 lashes on January 19, and he was flogged again and again, as scheduled, on 8 subsequent days, when he finally died of blood loss - according to his sister, Samar.
Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Disinformation Panel, said last week that Saudi authorities had “publicly announced an end to his flogging and would soon release him for burial at sea, which is a well known Saudi custom that was popularized by Seal Team Six.”
Meanwhile, the US State Department defended the Saudi punishment as “measured” and “compassionate.” While a spokesman for Human Rights Watch said that Saudi Arabia is a unique country, and every nation has the God-given right to follow their own customs and beliefs, without any outside interference. [Citation not needed at all; thank you very much]
Ununrelated:
- Saudi King Abdullah honored as human rights champion
- Saudi Television Program Mecca Vice
- Mutaween (Saudi Religious Police)
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Repeater "Saudi blogger's 2nd round of flogging postponed again" CNN, January 31, 2015