IT WAS the brutal flogging which shocked the world.

But Saudi Arabia is remaining tight-lipped over the punishment handed down to blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced to a public flogging every week for 20 weeks for insulting Islam.

The father-of-three was publicly whipped last month, receiving the first 50 lashes in an act which made global headlines.

One eyewitness told human rights organisation Amnesty International that Badawi was lashed on his back and legs without any break for at least five minutes.

He was flogged after Friday prayers when he was lashed 50 times outside al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah and was set to receive the same punishment every week for months.

However, Saudi authorities delayed the second and subsequent rounds after health officials said his wounds had not yet healed.

Badawi was sentenced in May to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes for criticising Saudi Arabia’s powerful clerics and ridiculing the country’s morality police on a liberal blog he founded.

The Jeddah Criminal Court also ordered he pay a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals, or about $266,000.

The lashes are to be administered over 20 weekly sessions, with 50 lashes each week.

Badawi avoided further flogging last Friday, Amnesty International said, marking the fifth straight week that his 1000-lash sentence has not been carried out.

There has been no reason for more recent delays but the case has focused attention on the kingdom’s human rights record.

It is not known why the punishment was delayed or if it has been called off with Amnesty calling for the immediate release of the 31-year-old and for the punishment to go no further.

“Raef was not flogged again today. We’re not sure why but he remains in prison,” Amnesty, the London-based rights group, said on its Twitter account last week.

His brutal punishment follows his arrest in 2012 after he created an online forum that his wife Ensaf Haidar insists was meant to encourage discussion about faith.

Following his arrest, his wife and children Najwa, Tirad and Myriyam left the kingdom for Canada.

Last year, Badawi was initially sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes in relation to the charges. But after an appeal, the judge stiffened the punishment.

The delay in his brutal punishment comes as a Norwegian parliamentarian nominated Badawi and his imprisoned lawyer Waleed Abulkhair for this year’s Nobel Peace prize.

In January an appeals court ordered Abulkhair to serve the full 15 years of his jail sentence.

He was convicted last July on a series of charges including “inciting public opinion” but the last five years of the sentence were initially suspended.

The two activists were convicted during the reign of King Abdullah, who died on January 23 and was succeeded by his half-brother Salman.