Rome, November 9 - Premier Matteo Renzi brought up human rights and pled for clemency for two Saudi prisoners during his meeting with Saudi Arabian leaders on Monday, sources at the premier’s office said. The prisoners are blogger Raif Badawi, who ran the Liberal Saudi Network encouraging online debate on religious and political issues, and who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for “insulting Islam on electronic channels”. The other is 20-something Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, who was arrested for participating in the Arab Spring demonstrations in 2011 when he was a teenager. He has been sentenced to beheading followed by crucifixion, reportedly for “encouraging pro-democracy protests [using] a BlackBerry”. International human rights campaigns and calls for clemency from several heads of state have so far gone unheeded.
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