Saudi Arabia has postponed the next round of flogging for a blogger sentenced to 1000 lashes for insulting Islam because his wounds from last week's beating have not yet healed, his wife says.
The public flogging of Raef Badawi, who is also serving a 10-year jail sentence, has sparked an international outcry and a campaign by Amnesty International and other rights groups to free him.
His wife Ensaf Haidar told AFP: "We only knew today that Badawi's case was referred by the royal court to the supreme court nearly a month ago," possibly paving the way for an appeal.
Badawi received the first 50 lashes of his sentence outside a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on January 9.
He is expected to undergo a total of 20 flogging sessions until his punishment is complete, but Haidar said the second round of lashes had been postponed on Friday.
"The prison doctor saw Badawi's health does not allow his flogging today," she told AFP by telephone from Canada where she has sought asylum with her three children.
"The wounds caused by the flogging last time do not allow flogging him this time as well," she said. "But it will probably still take place next Friday."
Amnesty said the doctor had recommended the flogging be postponed until next week.
"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 Raef Badawi must be allowed to heal so that he can suffer this cruel punishment again and again is macabre and outrageous."
Reporters Without Borders said it was "relieved" that Friday's flogging of Badawi was called off but remained "very concerned about his health and urges the authorities to abandon this barbaric punishment altogether because it could prove fatal."
"Saudi Arabia can no longer deny the gravity of this flogging, a barbaric punishment that is contrary to international law," RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire said.
RSF warned that Badawi "would not survive" the flogging, describing it as a "death sentence."
In September, a Saudi court upheld the decade-long jail sentence and 1000 lashes for Badawi, who has been behind bars since June 2012.
His wife, who lives in Quebec, urged "all the world and all governments to pressure Saudi to free Raef."
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Thursday urged ailing Saudi King Abdullah to pardon Badawi, saying flogging is "cruel and inhuman" and prohibited under international human rights law.
The United States, Sweden, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have denounced the flogging as a horrific form of punishment, saying Badawi was exercising his right to freedom of expression.
Canada has also condemned the sentence and called for a pardon.
