Saudi blogger Raif Badawi could face death penalty

By Henry Austin, Chris Green

Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian blogger whose punishment of 1000 lashes prompted international condemnation, may now face the death penalty.

Mr Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, told The Independent in a series of messages that judges in Saudi Arabia's criminal court want him to undergo a retrial for apostasy. A guilty verdict would mean death.

She said the "dangerous information" had come from "official sources" inside the conservative kingdom, where Mr Badawi has already been sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1000 lashes (at a rate of 50 a week) for criticising Saudi clerics through his blog.

In 2013, a judge threw out the charge of apostasy against the 31-year-old after he assured the court that he was a Muslim.

Campaigners had been hopeful Mr Badawi would be released after a recent decree from the new King Salman, pardoning those described as "public right" prisoners.

But King Salman has left the decision on who gets pardons to the Interior Ministry, which according to Amnesty is prim-arily responsible for the crackdown on dissenting voices.