Raif Badawi, the founder of the “Free Saudi Liberals” blog has been publicly given the first 50 of 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam”.
Badawi was brought after Friday prayers to a public square in the port city of Jeddah before hundreds of spectators, a witness to the lashing said.
A witness said Badawi clenched his eyes and remained silent during the 15-minute punishment.
Badawi was sentenced in May to 10 years in prison and a fine of 1 million riyals (about $267,000) as well as 50 lashes per week for 20 weeks. The Free Saudi Liberals blog has been shut down. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 1m riyals or about $266,600.
Human rights organizations, the UN, and foreign governments, including the US, have called for cancellation of the punishment.
Badawi has been imprisoned since mid-2012. He was originally sentenced in 2013 to seven years in prison and 600 lashes, but an appeals court stiffened the punishment. His wife and children left Saudi Arabia for Canada.
