The first 50 of Badawi’s lashes were carried out in January, prompting strong criticism of the kingdom’s rights record in Western countries, including its laws on political and religious expression and the status of Saudi women.
"Saudi Arabia expresses its intense surprise and dismay at what is being reported by some media about the case of citizen Raif Badawi and his sentence," said a statement carried on state media and attributed to an unnamed "foreign ministry official".
The statement said Saudi courts were independent and that the kingdom’s constitution ensured the protection of human rights because it was based on Islamic Sharia law.
"Saudi Arabia at the same time emphasizes that it does not accept interference in any form in its internal affairs," the statement added.
A Jeddah court handed Badawi his sentence after he criticized the Saudi clergy in a blog and called for changes in the way religion is practiced in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, the United States’ top Arab ally and birthplace of Islam, follows the strict Wahhabi Sunni Muslim school and gives the clergy control over its justice system.
It does not permit the public worship of other faiths or allow them to maintain places of worship inside the country. In a new law last year it included atheism as a terrorist offence.
It uses the death penalty for offences including blasphemy, apostasy and witchcraft. The kingdom has beheaded 40 people so far in 2015, rights watchdog Amnesty International said this week, based on local media reports.
