Website Editor Could Face Death Penalty

With many recent discussions here on ATS pertaining to Freedom of Speech and talk of repressive/oppressive control over people, I felt this would be an interesting example to show that a greater degree of freedom is allowed (at least here in the west).

A Saudi man created a website to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia and was later arrested in June of 2012. Now his case is being passed to the higher courts in Saudi Arabia.

He faces a possible death sentence as he has several charges levied against him: blasphemy, insulting Islam through electronic channels, and apostasy.

The judges of this matter are said to base their decisions on their own interpretaion of religious law instead of any written legal code or precendent.

Apostasy and blashemy, according to the article, both carry automatic death sentences.

Badawi's website included articles that were critical of senior religious figures, the monitoring group said.

Here is the site - translated to English by Microsoft's Bing - I could not get the url to work in Google - (invalid?)

humanf.org

Quote Source Rueters

True, true

But then Saudi doesn't claim to be the home of the free now either
With a constitution detailing ones rights

Quite the contrary .......

And this is a country that we align ourselves with......... While bombing other countries into being "free"......
Money is power I guess, the royalty there contributes plenty, so their acts against humanity are overlooked. Makes me wanna puke.

Saudi Arabia helps the US maintain the petro-dollar scandal, so naturally we turn a blind eye to all the atrocities they commit. No matter what the stated reason for something is, the true reason is ALWAYS money, no exceptions.

I tried rummaging around on the humanf.org forums to try and get a feel for what it is about.
Language is definitely a barrier in this regard - however, at first glance, it resembles what I would say a fair similarity to boards I have visited in general - both in content and of course the familiar BB format.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not that old of a country come to find out:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">
Saudi Arabia - Wikipedia

I love how the Arab Spring completely bypassed the one place that could have actually used it...

To me, that is the only proof i'd ever need to know what our countries are really up to...

Syria/Libya in the same year. Saudi Arabia continues on unabated. the Propaganda works sooo good.

In every religion the power hungry(scum) rise to the top and set themselves up as god and then dictate to everyone else.How dare you question them and you get death because they know they are wrong. They have to hide the BS they are spewing to keep the money coming in.

reply to post by explorer14


Muslims will tell you that "there is no compulsion in Islam".

Murdering apostates isn't compulsion?

Saudi Arabia - Oppression of Expression - Support Raif Badawi, Turki Al-Hamad,Hamza Kashgari

I believe this is the young man in question.

I wish there was something that could be done to aid in this case and others.