DAVOS, Jan 23 (AFP): As the world's powerful mourn the deceased Saudi King Abdullah, don't forget about the horrors inflicted on blogger Raef Badawi, Amnesty International head Salil Shetty told AFP in an interview Friday.
Shetty was speaking on the sidelines of the snow-covered World Economic Forum in Davos, where the programme for Friday was upended by the passing of the Saudi leader.
Jordanian King Abdullah II left Davos early, hours before a planned speech, and the late king's half-brother, Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, also flew back ahead of schedule to the Middle East.
"He had been ailing for some time, all the leaders in Saudi Arabia are pretty senior, and this is not a surprise," Shetty told AFP.
The problem, he added, was that Western leaders, hooked on Saudi oil, turned a blind eye to a swathe of human rights violations in the kingdom.
"The Saudi regime seems insensitive to human rights and human dignity and unfortunately they are also protected by many western countries because they have oil and because they are seen as allies in the fight against terrorism," he said.
Amnesty International considers essential the fate of blogger Badawi, whose sentencing to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam has sparked a world outcry, especially in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre carried out in France by Islamists.
Under international pressure, the Kingdom delayed Badawi's flogging, set for Friday, citing medical reasons.
"Nothing has changed as of now. Legally he is still going to be flogged every Friday and the only reason they are stopping is for his medical condition to improve so they can hurt him again," Shetty said.
