The activist sentenced to 1,000 lashes in Saudi Arabia underwent his first flogging despite the country’s Supreme Court being ordered to review the case, his wife has told the Telegraph.Raif Badawi, 31, was due to undergo the second of 20 rounds of 50 lashes on Friday morning, a week after receiving the first in a public ceremony which was condemned worldwide.Doctors ordered a postponement, saying the wounds from the first round had not yet had time to heal, giving rise to hopes that Saudi Arabia might be bowing to international pressure over the case.But Ensaf Haidar, Mr Badawi’s wife who is now in self-imposed exile in Canada with the couple’s three children, said there was no sign yet of leniency.
Keep up the international pressure!
It's not clear if the lashes will be given anyway. But the reason for the current suspension is international opposition. I get that this clashes with the Saudi opposition to the international opposition. But blogging is not a crime. Lashing and imprisoning a blogger should be.
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Digby writes about that odd illogical treatment of Saudi Arabia by Western leaders. Well, it's not odd because it's caused by oil greed. But it certainly is illogical. The Islamic State, for example, clearly has its roots in the Wahhabi sect of Islam, and that is the sect Saudi Arabia exports. Then it plans to but fences around its own country.