1000 Lashes Because I Say What I Think

by Badawi, Raif; Krauss, Lawrence M.; Schreiber, Constantin; Ramadan, Ahmed Danny

• ISBN13: 9781771642095
• ISBN10: 1771642092
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-08-15
• Publisher: Greystone Books

Summary

"Raif Badawi's is an important voice for all of us to hear"— Salman Rushdie

Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger, shared his thoughts on politics, religion, and liberalism online. He was sentenced to 1,000 lashes, ten years in prison, and a fine of 1 million Saudi Riyal, over a quarter of a million U.S. dollars. This politically topical polemic gathers together Badawi’s pivotal texts. He expresses his opinions on life in an autocratic-Islamic state under the Sharia and his perception of freedom of expression, human and civil rights, tolerance and the necessary separation of state and religion.

Author Biography

Raif Badawi is a Saudi Arabian writer and activist and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals. He was arrested in 2012 on a charge of insulting Islam through electronic channels and brought to court on several charges including apostasy. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes in 2013, then resentenced to 1,000 lashes and ten years in prison plus a fine in 2014. The lashes were to be carried out over 20 weeks. He has been imprisoned since 2012 and was publicly punished for expressing his opinions with 50 lashes on the 9th January 2015 on the square in front of the Al-Dschafali mosque in Jeddah.