Feb 28, 2016 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...s-for-expressing-his-atheism-on-a6900056.html A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing his atheism in hundreds of social media posts. The report carried in Al-Watan says the 28-year-old man admitted to being an atheist and refused to repent, saying that what he wrote reflected his own beliefs and that he had the right to express them. The report did not name the man. It added that ‘religious police’ in charge of monitoring social networks found more than 600 tweets denying the existence of God, ridiculing the Quranic verses, accusing all prophets of lies and saying their teaching fuelled hostilities. The court also fined him 20,000 riyals – or, just short of £4,000 READ MORE David Cameron boasts of 'brilliant' arms trade with Saudi Arabia EU 'out' campaign attacks EP for voting for Saudi Arabian arms embargo Saudi Arabia is running out of water In 2014 the oil-rich kingdom, under the late Saudi King Abdullah, introduced a series of new laws which defined atheists as terrorists, according to a report released from Human Rights Watch. In a string of royal decrees and an overarching new piece of legislation to deal with terrorism generally, King Abdullah attempted to clamp down on all forms of political dissent and protests that could "harm public order". Article one of the new provisions defined terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based". Speaking at the time the new measures were introduced Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said: "Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism.
Feb 28, 2016 i responded to that on reddit, this is wrong..the newspaper they reference doesnt cite that news at all..i was curious cuz no name was given and usually something like this would get news coverage in all our news papers..but i saw nothing..so i investigated and nothing was published in AL-Watan about it some major horse s---
Feb 28, 2016 Good. I swear atheists are becoming as annoying as vegans We get it bro you don't believe in God Neither do I btw
Feb 28, 2016 yes, but ofc not in a row..usually it depends on how long your in for..so like 10 a month or something
Feb 28, 2016 also lashes isnt some mid evil s---..they are actually soft and no dmg is permanent ... its more as a "public lesson" not to do wrong..like they are shaming the person they lash
Feb 28, 2016 I was about to ask you about this. Lashes do seem pretty terrible to be honest, but if you say they aren't too bad then I guess you're right. What other punishments do they have in Saudi Arabia? Is stoning a thing, and if it is, is it common for someone to get stoned?
Feb 28, 2016 about them being soft or about them being used to shame? cuz yes to both accounts ofc you will get someone who carry this serious as f--- and go ham..but its rare
Feb 28, 2016 btw im providing information about why its being used,,,im not actually agreeing with anything
Feb 28, 2016 i cant actually discuss this freely as im literally not allowed to...but we have rules in my country and one of them is not denying god in public...honestly its not that hard to do..you dont believe in god? no need to go shout it everywhere in a country that doesnt allow you to
Feb 28, 2016 I don't wanna annoy you with questions @Koolo but I just have so many about SA. Do you mind if I ask you more? I've never been too positive on Saudi Arabia, I was honest scared to ever go there in fear I'd end up breaking the law and being killed or jailed, but you've made that fear go away quite a bit.
Feb 28, 2016 not challenging ridiculous laws like that just helps to keep them in place longer change can't come to a place where no one is fighting for it
