Amnesty International members, who were made up to look as if they had been flogged, protested in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy.
It was the 400th day of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi’s imprisonment. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2014, as well as 1,000 lashes, due to his pacifist protests. The protesters also played flogging sound effects.
“The irreversible decision by the Saudi Supreme Court, which did not overturn Radi Badawi’s sentence, means the public flogging sessions will probably start again on Friday”, says Valérie Michaux, press officer for Amnesty International. “As there is a high risk of this happening, Amnesty members have protested in the hope of stopping another flogging session, which have not stopped since January”.
Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes on the 7th of May 2014. He was charged with “insulting Islam” on his site “Free the Saudi Liberals”. His sentence comes with a 10 year travel ban after his sentence is completed, a media ban, and a 226,000 euro fine.
The lashes are given 50 at a time, a week apart. Raif Badawi was publicly flogged for the first time after prayers on the 9th of January, in front of the Al-Jafali mosque in Djedda.
(Source: Belga)
