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SAUDI ARABIA: BLOGGER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR APOSTASY
December 25, 2013: Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger who has been in prison since June 2012 for violating the nation’s anti-cybercrime law, was given the death penalty for apostasy by a Saudi higher court, his wife told CNN.
Badawi founded the Free Saudi Liberals website and was originally given a seven-year sentence in July. A Jeddah criminal court found Badawi guilty of insulting Islam through his website and in television comments. His lawyer appealed the sentence, which also included 600 lashes. However, a higher court found him guilty of apostasy, his wife said. “It is an emotion I cannot describe. I never imagined this would happen,” she said. “I thought maybe they would reduce the sentence but this is unimaginable. The whole thing is about a website.”
Badawi’s legal troubles started shortly after he started the Free Saudi Liberals website in 2008. He was detained for one day and questioned about the site. Some clerics even branded him an unbeliever and apostate.
Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, and the couple’s three children now live in Lebanon. (Sources: CNN, 25/12/2013)
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