A
Saudi blogger who was sentenced to prison and publicly flogged on
charges that he had insulted Islam was awarded a major free -speech
prize on Tuesday in London.
The blogger, Raif Badawi, was named the international co-recipient of Britain’s PEN Pinter Prize. He was chosen from a shortlist by the poet James Fenton,
who was the British recipient of the award in June. Mr. Badawi is
serving a 10-year sentence after his conviction last year on charges
including “violating Islamic values and propagating liberal thought,”
according to English PEN, the writers group that bestows the prize. A
Saudi court fined him one million riyals, about $267,000, and sentenced
him to receive 1,000 lashes spread out over 20 floggings.
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At
a ceremony on Tuesday in London, Mr. Fenton said he was moved by the
contrast between Mr. Badawi’s “liberal aims” and the “ferocity” of the
punishment leveled against him.
“It
is a world of inconceivable cruelty, but intimately linked to ours by
business, strategic interests, military and diplomatic ties,” he said.
“For our part, then, protest has a purpose and — who knows? — perhaps
even a chance of some sort of success.”
