Saudi website editor sentenced to seven years in prison, lashes

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Saudi website editor sentenced to seven years in prison, lashes

DUBAI | Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:41am EDT

(Reuters) - The editor of a Saudi Arabian social website has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an Internet forum that violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought, Saudi media reported on Tuesday.

Raif Badawi, who started the "Free Saudi Liberals" website to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia, has been held since June 2012 on charges of cyber crime and disobeying his father - a crime in the conservative kingdom and top U.S. ally.

Al-Watan newspaper said the judge had also ordered the closure of the website.

France was concerned by the sentence and remained committed to "freedom of opinion and of expression", the foreign ministry said in a statement. Officials from the Saudi National Society for Human Rights could not be reached for comment.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/30/us-saudi-activist-sentence-idUSBRE96T0KU20130730

[Trillo]

1. Similar to the Chinese thread I remember. "Parents are always good"

Bullshit. Parents are often Axe Murderers from Hell. That's a metaphor though, very few if any are literal Axe Murderers. But they are often folks who have been deceived by the system about the goodness of the act of punishment.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014524018

[pipoman]

2. The religion of love and peace it is..

[COLGATE4]

3. Sounds to me like a death sentence

occurring after 7 years of incarceration. I can't believe anyone is capable of surviving 600 lashes.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

4. Remember,

Saudi Arabia is the good crazy-Muslim country.

Iran is the bad crazy-Muslim country.

I forget why - something about one of them lets the US tell them how much oil to pump and when - to keep oil prices low and steady - and the other one won't.

[potone]

5. This is sickening.

I don't see how he can survive this. I look forward to the day when we no longer need Saudi oil and can end our hypocritical relationship with that barbaric regime. Most Saudi citizens must live in a constant state of fear.