Saudis delay second round of flogging of liberal blogger

An Amnesty International protest in front of the Saudi Embassy in Vienna, Austria, Jan. 16, 2015, against the flogging of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.(Photo: Roland Schlager, EPA)The second round of public flogging of a liberal Saudi blogger was postponed Friday and the office of the Saudi king has referred the case to the Supreme Court, his wife tells the BBC.Raif Badawi had been sentenced to a total of 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam on his Saudi Liberal Network website. He received 50 lashes last week, and was scheduled to receive 50 more each Friday until the sentence is completed.Badawi was arrested in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2012 on charges of "insulting Islam through electronic channels" and "going beyond the realm of obedience."The second round was postponed for medical reasons, according to Amnesty International, which said it was stopped after he was taken from his cell for a medical check-up."The doctor concluded that the wounds had not yet healed properly and that he would not be able to withstand another round of lashes at this time," Amnesty International said in a statement. "He recommended that the flogging should be postponed until next week. It is unclear whether the authorities will fully comply with this demand."Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, told the BBC he had learned his case was referred by the king's office to the Supreme Court, giving Badawi hope authorities want to end the punishment. Haidar has fled to Canada with the couple's three children.Video of the first round of flogging showed Badawi being struck by a stick in front of a large crowd. He was allowed to keep his shirt on, as is custom in Saudi Arabia, lessening the impact, British newspaper The Telegraph reported."Raif told me he is in a lot of pain," Haidar said, according to the newspaper. "He said that when he was being flogged he took the pain silently and rose above it, so that history will know that he did not react to their punishment."A Saudi court in Jeddah ordered the Saudi Liberal Networkpermanently closed, the Saudi news site Sabq reported last summer.Europe anti-terrorism raids lead to dozens of arrestsJan 16, 2015