Badawi, takes part in a rally for his freedom, Tuesday, January 13, 2024 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Saudi Arabia could crack down on extremist clerics at home, and not just those who explicitly back Islamic State. Hateful ideology is so prevalent in the kingdom, it’s no wonder that at least 2,500 Saudis have joined Islamic State. Saudi leaders should also fulfill their promise to remove from state-issued textbooks passages so intolerant — including instruction on how best to execute heretics and homosexuals — that Islamic State has downloaded them for children in its territories.
As it begins a campaign against extremism, Saudi Arabia should end its crackdown on free speech. One law, for example, equates open demonstrations and insults to the state as terrorist acts. The blogger Raif Badawi, who was awarded the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Human Rights just last week, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for merely calling for moderation.
READ MORE.