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50 lashes a week for Saudi blogger 'outrageous': UN General Assembly chief

Xinhua, January 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN General Assembly President Sam Kutesa on Thursday described as "outrageous" the sentence of 1,000 lashes for a blogger in Saudi Arabia for defaming Islam.

According to published reports, Raif Badawi recently was sentenced by a court in Jeddah to 50 lashes every Friday outside a mosque for 20 weeks, to serve 10 years in prison and to pay a fine equivalent to 266,000 U.S. dollars on charges he insulted Islam on his online site "Free Saudi Liberals".

Asked at a briefing if he had attempted to reach out to Saudi Arabia "and express any displeasure" with the Saudi sentence, Kutesa replied, "I haven't done so myself but I think you are making a good point, we need to reach out to them because that is outrageous."

He did not elaborate.

After his briefing on the work of the 69th General Assembly, Kutesa was asked about freedom of expression following the massacre in Paris last week at the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, Kutesa defended the right of free expression, but said it should be tempered so as not to insult religion.

"The right of freedom of expression is fundamental," he said. " It must be observed, but we must exercise caution and responsibility about the feeling of others." Endite