It is hard to accept the fact that a person was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes, and a fine of one million riyal, equal to about 267,000 U.S dollars, just because he wanted to talk about and criticize society, politics, and religions. It is a true story of a Saudi Arabian writer and activist Raif Badawi. He is also the creator of the web site Free Saudi Liberals.

Badawi wanted to write about social issues such as religious pressure which is prevalent in his nation, Saudi Arabia through his web site. In fact, he wrote some articles on restricted topics like Valentine’s Day, and religious police. Additionally, Saudi Arabian people are not allowed to discuss such topics on public channels due to government pressure. Being on a charge of insulting Islam on media, he was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 600 lashes and 7 years of imprisonment in 2013. And the punishment changed to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in 2014.

After Friday prayers to a public square in the port city of Jeddah and flogged 50 times before hundreds of spectators. And the rest of the lashing punishment will continue to be carried out over 20 weeks. He will be receiving 50 lashes each week. Rights activists say Saudi authorities are using Badawi’s case as a warning to others who think to criticize the kingdom’s powerful religious establishment from which the ruling family partly derives its authority.

Some worldwide organizations including Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty claimed international pleas for his release. But the Saudi Arabian government did not respond to it. In a statement after the flogging Amnesty called it a “vicious act of cruelty” and said Badawi’s “only ‘crime’ was to exercise his right to freedom of expression by setting up a web site for public discussion.”

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary general, told reporters on Friday that the UN human rights office was “very concerned about the flogging” and had previously raised concerns about harsh sentences in Saudi Arabia for human rights defenders.

The recent shooting in Paris is another world issue that is related to freedom of speech and expression. Two armed men walked into the Paris offices of satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo and opened fire in the entrance hallway, killing 12 people, including its editor. It was an attack on freedom of expression. The attack was planned and carried out by Islamic terrorists who were stimulated by cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo magazine, because the cartoons were used to criticize their religion.

Social problems regarding freedom of speech are occurring in many different places not only in Saudi Arabia or Paris. “The Chinese government bans all foreign websites with user generated contents like Facebook in order to control freedom of speech on media,” said Mike Yang, an EvCC student. “I think freedom of speech has to be guaranteed just like the US, and Japan,” said Gabriel Jones.