Saudi Arabia: Editor sentenced for criticising religious police


The editor of the Saudi Arabian Liberals website, Raif Badawi, has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for violating Islamic values, according to activists. Badawi was arrested in June 2012 in Jeddah (GSN 939/6). In December, he appeared in a district court, where the judge demanded he “repent to God”; family members said he refused, and the case was referred to a higher court. A recommended charge of apostasy – which can carry the death sentence – seems to have been dropped but, on 29 July, he was sentenced for criticising the religious police and calling for religious liberalisation.