Raif Badawi

Raif Badawi and Torture

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded each year by the European Parliament to those who have “dedicated their lives to the defense of human rights and freedom of thought,” as the Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov did. The name of the winner is to be announced this Thursday. Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian blogger who was arrested and convicted of “insulting Islam,” is one of the three finalists for the award.

The Prize was created in 1988 and its past laureates include Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai. Several of the award winners have lived their lives under harsh or repressive circumstances, as Andrei Sakharov did, and continue to face harassment or live in prison, as Raif Badawi still does. As of today, he has spent 1251 days in jail and was whipped once, all for his writings.

High-level reports are out today, October 27, that his punishment—the flogging—will resume this week in a terrible, unofficially official, commentary from the Saudi authorities about Raif possibly winning this prestigious human rights honor.
Read More

A Prize for Raif Badawi

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

BREAKING NEWS: Raif Badawi was named on Tuesday as the International Writer of Courage and PEN Pinter Prize co-recipient for 2015 by English PEN, the human rights and freedom of expression organization. The poet James Fenton was named the winner in June, but the tradition has been that the winner select a co-winner. Fenton selected Raif Badawi.
Read More

Thoughts on Raif Badawi & the Nobel Peace Prize

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

The name of the winner of the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, October 9. That is 11:00 a.m. in Oslo, Norway, which is … well, really very early in the morning in Goshen, New York, time. (5:00 a.m. EST, in case you want to know.) I hope to be tuning in at that time, and I hope to hear one name in particular: Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old writer and activist from Saudi Arabia who sits in a Saudi prison as a result of his writing. He was convicted of “insulting” his nation’s religion in his writings.

If his name is spoken on Friday morning in Oslo, that does not mean the fight has been won for Raif Badawi, his wife and family, or his many supporters around the world, as he still is in prison and most likely will not be allowed to leave his prison cell or his country to collect the medallion. He also faces 19 more sessions with a whip, as his prison sentence of 10 years includes 1000 lashes with a cane.
Read More