Amnesty International calls on the flogging to be unconditionally stopped

The flogging of an internet blogger in Saudi Arabia has again been put on hold due to health concerns after he was inspected by a group of doctors.

Raif Badawi is facing 1,000 lashes for criticising clerics in Saudi Arabia but last night a committee of eight doctors requested its suspension on medical grounds, Amnesty International said.

Only a few days ago Saudi Arabia was accused of 'outrageous inhumanity' after it delayed the father of three's flogging sentence so his wounds could heal before he was whipped again.

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Father of three Raif Badawi faces 50 lashings every Friday for the next 18 weeks for 'insulting Islam'

Mr Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, fled to Canada with their children. She says he started a forum that was meant to encourage discussion of the Muslim faith. After seeing the video, she said: 'Every lash killed me'

Mr Badawi, 31, has won support from governments and human rights groups around the world after he was sentenced to ten years in prison, a £177,000 fine and the lashes.

His official crime was to insult Islam but supporters say his real offence was to criticise the country's powerful Sunni clerics on his blog. He faces 50 lashings every Friday for the next 18 weeks.

Today Amnesty International repeated its calls for the 'torture' so be unconditionally stopped.

The organisation's Middle East deputy director, Said Boumedouha, said: 'Instead of continuing to torment Raif Badawi by dragging out his ordeal with repeated assessments the authorities should publicly announce an end to his flogging and release him immediately and unconditionally.

'Raif Badawi is still at risk, there is no way of knowing whether the Saudi Arabian authorities will disregard the medical advice and allow the flogging to go ahead.'

Bowing to massive international condemnation, King Abdullah had recently referred the case to the country's supreme court, giving Mr Badawi's supporters a glimmer of hope it would be halted.

However, there has been no official statement from the Saudi government on the monarch's intervention, revealed by Mr Badawi's wife, Ensaf.

Last Friday Amnesty, which has adopted Mr Badawi as a prisoner of conscience, said he was taken out of his cell in Jeddah and examined by a doctor who decided that the wounds from his first set of 50 lashes last week had not healed.

The round of delayed lashes will now be stopped for a second consecutive week given last night's similar assessment.

Leaked video footage taken on a mobile phone is believed to show the first flogging session, as a shackled and standing Mr Badawi is hit on his legs and back by a policeman with a switch.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of 'outrageous inhumanity' for delaying Mr Badawi's sentence so his wounds could heal before he was whipped again

Raif and Ensaf in happier times together while they were both still living in Saudi Arabia

Ensaf has since fled the country with their three children, Najwa, 11, Terad, 10, and Miriam, seven

Mr Badawi's wife has fled to Canada with their children. She says he started a forum that was simply meant to encourage discussion of the Muslim faith. After seeing the video, she said: 'Every lash killed me.'

Mr Badawi's treatment has triggered global anger about the case.

'Not only does this postponement expose the utter brutality of this punishment, it underlines its outrageous inhumanity,' said Amnesty's Said Boumedouha.

'The notion that Raif Badawi must be allowed to heal so that he can suffer this cruel punishment again and again is macabre and outrageous.'

UN officials say the flogging breaches international law as a 'cruel and unusual punishment'.

The Foreign Office says it will continue to raise the case.

Ensaf - pictured here, centre, campaigning for his release - fears each week the floggings will kill Raif a little more

Protests against Raif's treatment at the hands of the Saudi government have been taking place all over the world - including this one outside the country's embassy in Washington DC