Last year sometime I received an email from a campaigning group about this guy in Saudi Arabia who had been sentenced to 1000 lashes. His crime? Writing a blog. Nothing particularly revolutionary or subversive – certainly not by our standards – but obviously this was seen as a threat by the Saudi regime. He’s still in jail and he’s had 50 lashes so afar. There’s no diplomatic movement on our side: we buy their oil, they buy our guns.
lyrics
Raif Badawi’s blog
Got an email the other day, from one of those campaigning groups
The ones you always want to help, but we only have time for only life
A blogger in a prison cell, facing a harsh penalty
A thousand lashes of the whip – is this justice or insanity?
So I read it anyway, a petition from his wife
Together we could save this man’s life
Raif Badawi’s blog is gone, it’s been starved of oxygen
He sits within his prison cell, ‘cos he couldn’t remain within the guidelines
Of moderation.
The first fifty cuts must have hurt, but what comes next will be worse
He’s fighting for his life, and wondering what it was all worth
His wife and family, safe in another country
Can only dream of running into his arms
Raif Badawi’s blog is gone, it’s been starved of oxygen
He sits within his prison cell, ‘cos he couldn’t remain within the guidelines
Of moderation.
Politics is a dirty game, and there’s noone to blame
Our leaders will not speak out even though they know what it’s all about
Do we really need their oil? Do they really need our guns?
Enough to sacrifice our daughters and our sons?
Raif Badawi’s blog is gone, it’s been starved of oxygen
He sits within his prison cell, ‘cos he couldn’t remain within the guidelines
Of moderation.
