{"id":9782,"date":"2015-06-18T03:20:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T03:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=9782"},"modified":"2015-06-18T03:20:37","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T03:20:37","slug":"britains-government-pascharlie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/britains-government-pascharlie\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s Government: #PasCharlie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Raif<\/a>The presence of British Prime Minister David Cameron, no friend of free speech, at the march in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo<\/em> killings was, in the scheme of things, a comparatively minor moment of hypocrisy. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it\u2019s always helpful to have reminders of where his government really stands.<\/p>\n

Writing in The Independent<\/em>, Francis Wheen:<\/p>\n

Three years ago today, Saudi Arabian police arrested Raif Badawi for the crime of running a website \u201cthat propagates liberal thought\u201d. His blog had put the case for secularism in observations such as this: \u201cStates which are based on religion confine their people in the circle of faith and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if to prove his point, a Sharia court hauled Badawi back into the fearful circle, sentencing him to 600 lashes and seven years in jail for \u201cgoing beyond the realm of obedience\u201d. Last year, deciding that he had been let off too lightly, a judge upped the punishment to 1,000 lashes and 10 years\u2019 imprisonment plus a fine of one million riyal (about \u00a3170,000).
\nWhat does our government think of this? <\/p>\n

Asked about the flogging and jailing of Badawi, the Foreign Office minister Baroness Anelay said in the Lords last week: \u201cWe maintain our view that freedom of religion and belief and freedom of expression are core rights that lead to long-term stability and good governance.\u201d<\/p>\n

But? Yes, of course there was a but, and one to take the breath away: \u201cMy Lords, I think we have to recognise that the actions of the Saudi government in these respects have the support of the vast majority of the Saudi population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do they? Last Friday I asked the Foreign Office how the minister could be so sure. No answer has yet been forthcoming. Perhaps the \u201cvast majority\u201d of Saudis are indeed fanatical sadists who rejoice to see liberal bloggers whipped. Or, then again, perhaps they aren\u2019t. No one knows: this is an absolute monarchy, not a marginal in the West Midlands being polled by Lord Ashcroft.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If I had to guess, the grotesque treatment of Badawi probably worries few in Saudi Arabia, but why Anelay had to say what she did, well\u2026<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/voices\/comment\/saudi-arabia-is-teaching-isis-a-lesson-in-cruelty-yet-the-uk-continues-to-defend-them-10324161.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The presence of British Prime Minister David Cameron, no friend of free speech, at the march in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo killings was, in the scheme of things, a comparatively minor moment of hypocrisy. Nevertheless, it\u2019s always helpful to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[15,711],"tags":[51,1121,899,468],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9784,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9782\/revisions\/9784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}