Free Saudi Liberals website founder Raif Badawi was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes earlier today. Badawi was arrested on 17 June, 2012 in Jeddah and was charged with “setting up a website that undermines general security” and ridiculing Islamic religious figures.
The Free Saudi Liberals website was an online forum for public discussions. It was shut following Badawi's arrest, and it had been blocked within the country for years. In today's sentence, the judge also ordered the permanent shutdown of the website: [Global Voices] Read more
