Saudi urged to squash blasphemy death sentence

Human Rights Watch called on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to dismiss a death sentence against a Turkish barber convicted of "cursing the name of God" in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

The New York-based group said in a statement that an appeals court had upheld a death sentence against Sabri Bogday, a Turkish national who had worked in Jeddah for 11 years as a barber, who was convicted of insulting God during an argument with a Saudi client and an Egyptian neighbour.

The sentence can be still reversed by a higher legal body.

"The charges, conviction, and sentence against Bogday show the dangers of criminalising speech on the grounds that it's offensive," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Middle East director, in the statement.

The group also called for the dismissal of a case against Raif Badawi, a Saudi man who used his website to criticise the religious police, who impose strict Islamic rules in Saudi Arabia.

Badawi, who faces a possible five-year prison sentence and a heavy fine, fled Saudi Arabia two weeks ago after receiving threats, the rights group said.

Saudi Arabia imposes a strict version of Islamic law but has no written penal code and judges have wide discretionary powers in sentencing.

Sentences of execution carried out by public beheading are issued for murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed robbery, and sometimes for charges such as witchcraft and blasphemy.

King Abdullah has promised wide-ranging judicial reforms but observers say they could take years to implement. (Reuters)

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