Earlier on this month, a Saudi Arabian blogger was charged with apostasy and insulting Islam after setting up an online forum called the “Saudi Liberal Network”. The platform encouraged discussions about religion as well as issues of democracy and liberalism. He’s currently serving 10 years in prison, but was also sentenced to receive 1,000 lashes and a 10 year travel ban. We explore how Saudi officials are caught between international pressure and a conservative religious establishment. We also recalled the case of Saudi poet Hamza Kashgari who was detained at KLIA and deported while fleeing the Kingdom. And our complicity in his persecution.

This is a report by Wong Yu Han.

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Tags:  raif badawi,  saudi arabia,  secular,  islam,  conservative,  liberal,  1,  000 lashes,  10 year jail sentence,  10 year travel ban