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Saudi blogger Raif Badawi gets a thousand lashes and 10 years
A Saudi court has jailed blogger Raif Badawi for ten years for “insulting Islam” and setting up a liberal internet forum, local media report.
He was additionally sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ordered to pay a fine of one million riyals ($266,000; £133,000).
Amnesty International called the decision “outrageous” and urged the authorities to quash the verdict.
Mr Badawi, the co-founder of an internet site known as the Liberal Saudi Network, was arrested in 2012.
A Saudi newspaper near the goverment reported thathe had lost his appeal against an earlier, more lenient sentence of seven years and three months in jail and 600 lashes.
Last year he was cleared of apostasy, that could have carried a death sentence.
Mr Badawi had previously called for 7 May to be a “day for Saudi liberals”. The website he set up has since been closed.
“Ruthless campaign”
Amnesty International describes him as a “prisoner of conscience” and has called for his release.
“Raif Badawi is the latest victim to fall prey to the ruthless campaign to silence peaceful activists in Saudi Arabia,” it said in a statement.
Last October a Saudi journalist was freed after spending a year and a half in prison for writing insulting tweets about the Prophet Muhammad.
Hamza Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia for Malaysia in 2012 but was extradited just days later. He was released last year after making a public apology.
Voting is underway in Pakistan’s legislative elections, in a tense climate marked by fears of violence and fraud. The ballot should have taken place last month but was delayed after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The country is still reeling from her murder and campaigning has been low key because of concerns over security.
A suicide attack on supporters of Bhutto’s party killed 47 people in a town near the Afghan border on Saturday. Overnight, five people, including an opposition candidate, were killed by gunmen in Lahore.
The two main opposition parties claim allies of President Pervez Musharraf are intent on rigging the vote.
A massive security presence is surrounding today’s election but fears of violence could hurt the turnout.
Voting is underway in Pakistan’s legislative elections, in a tense climate marked by fears of violence and fraud. The ballot should have taken place last month but was delayed after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The country is still reeling from her murder and campaigning has been low key because of concerns over security.
A suicide attack on supporters of Bhutto’s party killed 47 people in a town near the Afghan border on Saturday. Overnight, five people, including an opposition candidate, were killed by gunmen in Lahore.
The two main opposition parties claim allies of President Pervez Musharraf are intent on rigging the vote.
A massive security presence is surrounding today’s election but fears of violence could hurt the turnout.
DOHA — The construction of the first-ever church in Doha has sparked a hot debate in Qatar with a group pressing for granting the Christian minority this right and another viewing it as an imposition on the Islamic nature of the Gulf state.
Having “places of worship for various religions is a fundamental human right guaranteed by Islam,” former dean of the Shari`ah Faculty at Qatar University Abdul Hamid al-Ansari told Agence France Presse (AFP) Saturday, February 16.
Ansari attributed the opposition to “a fanatic culture resulting from religious teaching (stipulating) hatred for the other and from social norms that denied non-Muslims their rights on the basis of old political and security considerations that have become obsolete.”
Let’s all welcome the presence of churches in Qatar… as a demonstration of Islamic tolerance and human brotherhood,” he said.
The $7 million Roman Catholic St. Mary’s church will be inaugurated on March 15 by Vatican envoy Cardinal Ivan Dias.
The complex will include conference facilities, temporary living accommodations, a library, and a cafe.
The land was given by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
Catholics comprise the majority of Qatar’s estimated 70,000 Christian expatriates.
“Let’s all welcome the presence of churches in Qatar… as a demonstration of Islamic tolerance and human brotherhood,” said Ansari.
Islamic Myths 