Ambiguity over Saudi activist's 1,000-lash sentence

Ambiguity engulfs the remainder of the 1,000 lashes set to be meted out to Saudi liberal activist Raif Badawi scheduled today outside a mosque in the city of Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia, the Anadolu Agency reported.

It is uncertain whether Badawi, whose punishment has been postponed for the past three weeks, will be flogged today after reports claimed his case will be returned to the District Court in Jeddah.

In a statement posted to its website on Wednesday, Amnesty International said that the organisation had learned that the Saudi Supreme Court returned Badawi’s case to the Jeddah Criminal Court on February 3, without revealing its source of information.

Saudi Arabia did not confirm or deny Amnesty International’s statement.

The international group announced last Friday that the second batch of flogging against Badawi has been postponed for “unknown reasons”.

Badawi received his first 50 lashes on Friday 9 January.

The sentence was postponed for two weeks for health reasons.

Amnesty international called on the Saudi authorities not to whip Badawi describing him as “a prisoner of conscience” and demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

A Saudi court sentenced Badawi, a co-founder of the Free Liberal Network, to ten years in prison and to 1,000 lashes over the course of 20 weeks and a fine amounting to $266,000 on charges of insulting Islam and the establishment of a liberal network.

Badawi, 30, was arrested on17 June 2012.