500 lashes and one year in jail for insulting the companions of Muhammad and Islam

Not some infidel, but an Australian Muslim on Hajj to Mecca. No specifics are given as to exactly what he said, but with Islam it really doesn't matter what is said, but how it is interpreted. If I say the sky is blue, but the Muslim I am speaking to believes it to be pink because Muhammad said it was pink, then I am going to be accused of insulting Islam and prosecuted accordingly. It's not the facts, it's the feeling.

From AFP/Yahoo December 7

Australian sentenced to 500 lashes in Saudi Arabia

An Australian man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in jail by a court in Saudi Arabia after being found guilty of blasphemy, Canberra said on Wednesday.

Reports said Mansor Almaribe, 45, was detained in the city of Medina on November 14 while making the hajj pilgrimage and accused of insulting companions of the prophet Mohammed.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said he was sentenced on Tuesday and Canberra's ambassador in Saudi Arabia had been in touch with authorities to plead for leniency.

"The Australian ambassador has been in touch with Saudi authorities after a 45-year-old Australian man was sentenced by a court in Saudi Arabia to one year in jail and 500 lashes," a DFAT spokeswoman said.

No one can survive 500 lashes. Less than 100 will kill you, so this sentence is a death sentence. The year behind bars means nothing.

Read it all