Saudi Flogging Stopped for Medical Fears

Saudi Arabia postponed the next public flogging of a liberal blogger on medical grounds, according to Amnesty International. The human-rights organization said Friday that Raif Badawi was taken for a medical checkup before his round of 50 lashes for insulting Islam and were told that his wounds had not yet healed from his first round of punishment; if he was forced to undergo another round, he would not survive. Badawi was sentenced to receive 1,000 lashes this year, 50 per week. On Thursday, the United Nations joined Amnesty, Reporters Without Borders, and the U.S. in calling for King Abdullah to pardon the blogger and review the use of “this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty.”