BBC News, Sebastian
Usher, Arab affairs editor, 22 January 2013
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| It is unclear what Mr Badawi's fate will be now the court has refused to charge him |
The court
had the power to sentence Raif Badawi to death had it found him guilty.
But it
refused to charge him, referring his case back to a lower court.
Mr Badawi,
the young co-founder of a website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was
arrested last year and accused of insulting Islam and showing disobedience.
His lawyer,
Waleed Abu Alkhair, says he became a target for Saudi authorities after
declaring 7 May last year a "day for Saudi liberals" - in order to
have more open discussion about social and religious issues.
His wife,
Ensaf, has stood by him but told the BBC of the personal cost of the case, with
friends and family distancing themselves or even turning against them.
She now
lives in Lebanon, but says she has received threatening messages.
"Two
or three days after Raif's hearing, I started to receive phone calls from
unknown people, saying 'we are going to kill your husband'. But I didn't
respond to them."
This was
after a judge in a lower court recommended that Mr Badawi should be tried for
apostasy - for which he could have faced the death penalty - if the higher
court had backed the charges.
The
evidence against him included the fact that he pressed the "Like"
button on a Facebook page for Arab Christians.
It is
unclear what happens next, but sources close to Mr Badawi say he believes he
will now be shuttled between various courts to keep him in prison without
attracting the further international criticism that a guilty verdict might
bring.
Mr Badawi's
case is not unique. It highlights the constant push and pull between reformist
and deeply conservative forces in Saudi Arabia.
A prominent
writer, Turki al-Hamad, is currently under a form of house arrest for recent
tweets criticising Islamists - he, too, could be charged with apostasy.
Another
writer and blogger, Hamza Kashgari, was extradited from Malaysia to Saudi
Arabia almost a year ago on similar charges. He has repented in court,
but remains in jail.
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