bahrain

A wave of protests has emerged against the Saudi authorities following the confirmation of an earlier sentence to flog Ra’if Badawi 1000 lashes for criticizing the regime. The Swedish foreign minister has said she stands by her denunciation of a Saudi blogger’s flogging as medieval, three months after her criticism of the Gulf kingdom’s human rights record ignited a diplomatic crisis and infuriated business leaders fearful for trade losses. Speaking on Monday, a day after it emerged that Saudi Arabia’s highest court had upheld Badawi’s punishment, Margot Wallström said she was unrepentant and said again that the flogging amounted to medieval methods. “I would not have done things differently,” Wallström told the Guardian “No, I do not regret the medieval remark; we have not excused ourselves. But we have explained that this was not an attack on Islam.” Campaigners have called for a radical shift in Britain’s relati onship with Saudi Arabia. Andrew Smith of CAAT said: “The human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is dire. The fact that it is also the world’s largest buyer of UK weapons is a sign of the real hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy.” A Foreign Office spokeswoman said on Monday: “We are extremely concerned that Raif Badawi’s sentence has been upheld … We have raised his case at the most senior levels in the government of Saudi Arabia and will continue to do so.”