UN human rights chief appeals to Saudi king to pardon convicted blogger, halt his flogging
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The United Nations' top human rights official is appealing to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to pardon a blogger convicted of insulting Islam and sentenced to be flogged.
Raif Badawi was brought to a public square in Jiddah last week and flogged 50 times. He was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison, a fine and a total of 1,000 lashes after criticizing Saudi Arabia's powerful clerics on a liberal blog.
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said in a statement Thursday that flogging is "at the very least, a form of cruel and inhuman punishment" prohibited under international human rights law.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He appealed to the king to halt the public flogging by pardoning Badawi "and to urgently review this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty."