Story highlights The lashings are scheduled to be doled out 50 at a time, for 20 weeks

Watchdog: Whipping man for sharing ideas sends "ugly message of intolerance"

Raif Badawi has been in prison since 2012, charged with insulting Islam

(CNN) Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld a sentence of 10 years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes for blogger Raif Badawi, his sister, Samar Badawi, said Monday.

Badawi's sister went to the Jeddah court Monday to follow up on a local media report that an appeal was denied. There, she received confirmation from the court that the sentence was upheld.

Badawi who has been imprisoned since 2012, was charged with violating Saudi Arabia's information technology law and insulting Islam through his website "Saudi Arabian Liberals."

The lashings are to be carried out 50 lashes at a time, 20 weeks in a row. Badawi endured the first 50 of the 1,000 lashes stoically in January, arching his back in pain. The flogging provoked an outcry from human rights groups and U.S. officials.

"Publicly lashing a peaceful activist merely for expressing his ideas sends an ugly message of intolerance," Human Rights Watch said at the time.

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