Saudi Arabia No Longer Flogging Punishment

Riyadh, MINA – A statement from the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia stated that the kingdom no longer enforces flogging as a form of punishment.

The decision was stated as part of human rights reforms brought by King Salman and his son, Mohammed bin Salman, BBC news reported on Saturday (26/4).

The Supreme Court stated, flogging will be replaced with imprisonment or fines.

The abolition of the caning sentence came just days after the royal human rights record came back into the spotlight following news of the death of prominent activist Abullah al-Hamid in detention some time ago.

Humanitarian activists say Saudi Arabia has the worst record for human rights in the world, with freedom of expression and criticism of the government being severely restricted.

The last time the flogging in Saudi Arabia made headlines in 2015 when blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in 2014 for allegedly insulting Islam.

Despite revoking the flogging sentence, they said legal reforms supervised by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had not yet decided to stop other forms of physical punishment, such as amputations for theft or beheading for murder and terrorism offenses. (T/R7/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)