So liberals get punished more harshly than conservatives. Well, a broken clock..../s;)
In this case “liberals” seems to mean people opposed to rigid Sharia forms of Islam, or for SA, Wahabi. Speaking out against the religious police will get nasty punishment for “blasphemy.” Murderers or other general criminals are less a danger to the established order than those who question the established form of their religion in a theocratic state.