“Flogged for Blogging” in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabian Supreme Court recently upheld the public flogging and ten year jail sentence of blogger Raif Badaw.

In the video clip above, Cenk Uygur & John Iadarola of the Young Turks review the case and explain what the lashing reveals most about religion.

Badawi ran the Liberal Saudi Network which, according to the BBC, “encouraged online debate on religious and political issues for four years.” Saudi Arabian authorities arrested him in 2012, and eventaully sentenced him to 1000 lashes and ten years in prison.

Human Rights Watch and others have called for Badawi’as release. Amnesty International calls Badawi  a “prisoner of conscience.