Today is the 1418th day the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has spent in prison. Last night, the International Publishers Association awarded him its Prix Voltaire, and his powerhouse wife, Ensaf Haidar, traveled to London to accept the award on his behalf.

Raymond Johansen of the Pirate Party of Norway (#‎PPNO‬) and my sometime collaborator on The Gad About Town website, traveled to London and met with Ensaf this weekend (photo below the fold):
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Freedom of speech is the air that any thinker breathes; it’s the fuel that ignites the fire of an intellectual’s thoughts.
 
Many human rights organizations believe that freedom of speech is a basic human right, and they call upon the Arab regimes to reform their policies when it comes to freedom of speech. As a human being, you have the right to express yourself. You have the right to journey wherever your mind wanders and to express the thoughts you come up with along the way. You have the right to believe, and to atone, the same way you have the right to love or to hate. You have the right to be a liberal or to be an Islamist.—Raif Badawi, “1000 Lashes Because I Say What I Think“

If you believe freedom of speech is a precious commodity, “the air” we need to breathe, the most dangerous and assertive act you can perform in the name of that freedom is to keep using it, to keep at it. To keep writing.
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