Saudi Blogger Sentenced To 1,000 Lashes May Not Withstand 2nd Round Of Flogging, Says Wife

If a Saudi blogger is killed by his government over free speech, how is this any different than the Charlie Hebdo massacre?

From here, where there is more:

A Saudi Arabian blogger imprisoned for starting a liberal online forum to encourage discussion and debate in his country may not be able to withstand a second flogging this Friday, his wife says.

Raif Badawi was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes by a Saudi court for “insulting Islam.”  Last Friday he endured the first round of lashes -- 50 strikes on the back of his body by a long, hard cane -- in a public flogging held in the city of Jiddah.  This Friday, he will reportedly be subjected to a second round of 50 lashes.

“Raif told me he is in a lot of pain after his flogging, his health is poor and I’m certain he will not be able to cope with another round of lashes,” Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haider, told Amnesty International.

Badawi was sent to prison and assigned weekly public canings for launching the Free Saudi Liberals website.  According to the Associated Press, he was also ordered to pay a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals, or about $266,000.  His website has been shut down.

Badawi's lawyer, human rights activist Waleed Abul-Khair, has reportedly also been sentenced to a lengthy jail term: 15 years imprisonment, as well as a subsequent 15-year travel ban. He was found guilty by a Saudi anti-terrorism court of "undermining the regime and officials," ''inciting public opinion" and "insulting the judiciary," per the AP.

Read the rest.

Okay, for those who keep saying acts of terrorism aren't Islamic terrorism, but merely acts being perpetrated by terrorists in the name of Islam or by those who are corrupting or misrepresenting Islam, try telling us that an official act by the government of Saudi Arabia is not representative of Islam.

How many Charlie Hebdos do we have to have?  How many examples of Muslim terrorism, repression, violence, and censorship do we have to witness before people in the West wake up and realize Islam is not your friend?  It is an insanely barbaric and repressive ideology.  If this Saudi blogger dies from his 1000 lashes, given in punishment for a blog that merely exercised free speech, how is this different from killing the staff of Charlie Hebdo?  Because it was done by an Islamic government instead of a Islamic terrorist network?

Even writing this piece could earn me a similar fate if I lived in Saudi Arabia.  The reality is, if you  are a blogger, you too could be a Raif Badawi but for a matter of geography.

Je suis Raif Badawi.