Liberals across the Arab region and Europe have expressed outrage that the young Saudi blogger and liberal activist, Raif Badawi, has received the first 50 of his 1,000-lash sentence for championing free speech in Saudi Arabia.
In a statement for Liberal International, LI cooperating organisation the Arab Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AAFD) condemned the act as “barbaric and in contradiction with Islamic values.”
The leader of AAFD, Saed Karajah, said:
The Alliance and its Arab Liberal member parties is shocked to learn of the news of the lashing of the young Liberal activist and blogger Raif Badawi. Badawi –who is a Muslim- has committed no crime by criticizing the arbitrary imposition of religion on people as this does not contradict the essence of Islam. The Quran is clear in addressing this issue: the Prophet Mohamed “doesn’t have the right to force people to follow his teachings.
In an interview for a Dutch radio channel LI’s Human Rights Committee Member and President of the Dutch Humanist Society, Boris Van Der Ham, condemned the implementation of Badawi’s sentence as
barbaric torture methods which cause tremendous physical pain and are even life-threating.
Adding to his concern for the young liberal, Van Der Ham said:
The intention to give Badawi each Friday for twenty weeks 50 whiplashes is of unimaginable cruelty.
LI member Partido de la Libertad Individual from Spain has been at the forefront of the struggle to exonerate Raif Badawi having put together a campaign calling for his immediate release.
