Saudi Arabia Abolish Flogging As A Punishment For Offence

The Arabian headquarters of the world, Saudi Arabia has finally abolished the use of flogging as a means to punish crimes and offences in the country.

The directive from the Gulf kingdom’s Supreme Court says flogging will be replaced by imprisonment or fines. It says this is an extension of human rights reforms brought by King Salman and his son, the country’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Campaigners say Saudi Arabia has one of the worst records for human rights in the world, with freedom of expression severely curtailed and critics of the government subject to what they say is arbitrary arrest.

The last time that flogging in Saudi Arabia hit the headlines was in 2015 when blogger Raif Badawi was subjected to the punishment in public, reportedly after being convicted of cybercrime and insulting Islam.

He had been due to receive 1,000 lashes in weekly beatings but global outrage and reports that he nearly died put a stop to that part of his sentence.

BBC Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher says it was clearly bad for Saudi Arabia’s image.

Now, the practice looks like it will be done away with entirely.

But waves of arrests of every type of dissident under the king and the crown prince – including of women’s rights campaigners – undercut this claim, our reporter says.