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| Charlie Hebdo Jan. 14, '14 issue |
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's ruling family is coming under pressure from Western countries over its flogging of writer Raif Badawi for "insulting Islam", but it appears more worried about the risk of offending domestic conservatives if it lets him off.
The political stakes over the punishment of Badawi, whose second bout of 50 lashes was postponed on Friday for medical reasons, have been heightened by the Paris attack on Charlie Hebdo newspaper and its publication on Wednesday of new cartoons lampooning Islam's Prophet Mohammad.
Badawi, who set up a "Free Saudi Liberals" website, was flogged 50 times in public a week ago by an Interior Ministry official and was sentenced to face the same punishment every Friday until he has received 1,000 lashes. He will then spend 10 years in prison. The doctor who carried out a pre-flogging medical check-up recommended that Friday's second flogging be postponed until next week, international rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a statement.
The kingdom is attempting to marshal conservative Muslims behind a campaign against Islamist militants in al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS), but has stirred anger among many of them for what they see as its weak response to the French cartoons.
Riyadh issued an unqualified statement of condemnation of the attack on Charlie Hebdo, which was echoed by conservatives in the country. But it did not balance that by strongly criticising the images published in the weekly. Its ambassador took part in a solidarity march in which protesters carried the cartoons. Some Saudis say that makes mercy for Badawi difficult.
"They're under pressure inside to punish people like him, especially among Salafis. It is a question of the legitimacy of the state. You have to remember those people are very influential at a street level," said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security expert with close ties to the Saudi Interior Ministry.
Against the background of regional turmoil, the authorities have issued tougher penalties against all forms of dissent in the past year, from women driving to social media comments supporting Islamist militants, and have increased the use of the death penalty via public beheadings.
Moreover, it is the top clergy that controls the judiciary, making it particularly uncomfortable for a ruling dynasty which depends on clerical approval for part of its legitimacy to overturn court decisions.
Source: Reuters, Philippa Fletcher, January 16, 2015
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