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.

Amnesty International webpage on Raif.