Saudi website editor Raif Badawi faces the death penalty in Saudi Arabia for alleged crime of Apotasy - it's time for the hypocritical human rights organizations , the mainstream media and our DC politicians - who never fail to cry human rights for countries other than Saudi Arabia to find their voices !

http://expertscolumn.com/content/case-saudi-website-editor-raif-badawi-charged-apostasy-and-death-cards

I have along with thousands of others have long felt that the state of Saudi Arabia is an anachronism in the modern world. The kingdom is rooted in the medieval age and has archaic laws that defy rationale. The country follows the Wahhabi school of thought and enforces a strict interpretation of the Sharia. Barbaric punishments which have long been outlawed in progressive Muslim countries like amputations, death by be-headings and stoning are strictly followed. Worse the so called crime for Apostasy (change of religion) is punishable by death.

A few Saudi men and women are however fighting the obscurantist regime and the archaic laws and they have to pay a terrible price for it. One case that has been brought by the Human rights groups is the arrest of Raif Badawi a 30 year old editor of a website. Raif had started a website with the name Free Saudi Liberals. On this site he posted articles on Islam and its role in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Raif was under the scanner of the religiouspolice and the clergy for quite some time. In 2008 he had been debarred from going abroad, but Raif continued his crusade against the top clergy of Saudi Arabia who he felt were pushing the nation back and not allowing it to come to terms with the 21st century.
Raif’s activities which would have been legitimate in any other country have not been appreciated in Saudi Arabia. It is learnt that he was arrested by the Saudi police and hauled up in court. He was earlier charged with the lesser crime of insulting Islam, but the judge hearing the case referred his case to a higher court and changed the charge to Apostasy. This crime in Saudi Arabia merits a mandatory death sentence. Raif Badawi was arrested on 17 December 2012 and is presently lodged in prison awaiting trial for Apostasy. In case convicted he will be given the mandatory death sentence.All this makes distressing news and one wonders when Saudi Arabia will break away from the shackles of the medieval ages. The sad part is that the biggest backer of the Saudi dynasty and by corollary the obscurantist regime is the United States of America. They had similarly backed the Shah of Iran and 40 years down the line are paying for their folly. They better learn, but matters are not helped with the Us President Obama bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia.

In the mean time all of us must join hands and see that Raif Badawi is not beheaded for a simple act of running a web site. The site is closed by Saudi authorities now,

and.....



http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/22/net-us-saudi-website-apostasy-idUSBRE8BL0DA20121222

(Reuters) - The editor of a Saudi Arabian website could be sentenced to death after a judge cited him for apostasy and moved his case to a higher court, the monitoring group Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

Raif Badawi, who started the Free Saudi Liberals website to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia, was arrested in June, Human Rights Watch said.

Badawi had initially been charged with the less serious offence of insulting Islam through electronic channels, but at a December 17 hearing a judge referred him to a more senior court and recommended he be tried for apostasy, the monitoring group said.

Apostasy, the act of changing religious affiliation, carries an automatic death sentence in Saudi Arabia, along with crimes including blasphemy.

Badawi's website included articles that were critical of senior religious figures, the monitoring group said.

A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry was not available to comment.

The world's top oil exporter follows the strict Wahhabi school of Islam and applies Islamic law, or sharia.

Judges base their decisions on their own interpretation of religious law rather than on a written legal code or on precedent.

King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's ruler, has pushed for reforms to the legal system, including improved training for judges and the introduction of precedent to standardize verdicts and make courts more transparent.

However, Saudi lawyers say that conservatives in the Justice Ministry and the judiciary have resisted implementing many of the changes that he announced in 2007. (Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

and the harassment of Badawi goes back for years......don't recall the Washington Post , New York Times or any Politicians in DC raising the alarm about this situation....

http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/2281

Saudi Arabia: Travel ban against blogger Mr Raif Badawi for criticising religious police

On 6 December 2009, blogger and human rights defender, Mr Ra’if Badawi, was stopped at Jeddah airport and prevented from travelling to Beirut. No official explanation was given for the travel ban or its time limit; however, it is believed that it is related to charges brought against Ra’if Badawi in relation to a website he set up, in which he has criticized the religious police for violations of human rights.

Further Information

Ra'if Badawi's travel ban follows an ongoing pattern of measures taken against him. Ra'if Badawi was originally detained by the Saudi Arabian prosecution service in March 2008, when he was kept in custody for one day and interrogated intensively over the course of the following two days about his writings on the internet, in which he used to detail abuses by the Saudi religious police and to question the predominant interpretation of Islam. Unknown persons have hacked Ra'if Badawi’s website on numerous occasions, and have published his phone numbers, work address, and a threat to his life on the hacked site. Prosecutors have not investigated the hackers or the death threats against Ra'if Badawi.

On 15 April 2008, Ra'if Badawi left Saudi Arabia. On 5 May 2008, the prosecution service in Jeddah charged Ra’if Badawi with “setting up an electronic site that insults Islam,” and referred the case to court, asking for a five-year prison sentence and a 3 million riyal (US$800,000) fine. Ra'if Badawi returned to Saudia Arabia on 20 December 2008, but in May 2009 Al-Hayyat daily newspaper reported that the bank accounts of Ra’if Badawi and his wife had been frozen. A month later, he was summoned by a high officer at the Public Intelligence Office (Mukhabarat) who promised to drop the case against him. However, to date his legal status has not changed. Ra'if Badawi is still prevented from travelling out of Saudi Arabia and his bank accounts are still frozen.

Front Line believes that Ra'if Badawi's ongoing travel ban and legal charges are directly related to his work in defence of human rights, particularly through his criticism of the religious police for violations of human rights. Front Line sees this as part of a pattern of ongoing harassment against Ra'if Badawi, and is concerned for his physical and psychological integrity.

Front Line urges the authorities in Saudi Arabia to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against and lift the travel ban on human rights defender Ra'if Badawi as it is believed that these measures have been taken against him solely on account of his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights;

2. Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Ra'if Badawi as well as that of his family;

3. Ensure that all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are free to carry out their legitimate human rights work without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.