raif badawi

Raif Badawi & the Optimism of Dissent

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Raif Badawi was not flogged today, August 14. Official reasons were not given. Hope exists this week that his case and his sentence is being reviewed once again by the Saudi Arabian judicial system.

Raif Badawi is a writer who started a blog entitled “Saudi Arabian Liberals,” was arrested in 2012 and charged with “insulting Islam” and with apostasy for his writings, was found guilty of insulting Islam, and was given the fearsome sentence of 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes. On January 9, he was whipped in public for the first time; 50 lashes were delivered. He has not been whipped in public since; he has also not been seen in public since. The international outcry has been enormous—Amnesty International has revealed that Raif Badawi’s story has received more signatures supporting his release than any other in its history. Bono has spoken about the case in U2 concerts. Saudi Arabia has been forced to break its typical silence and comment on his case. Those comments have been disheartening, but Raif Badwi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, continues her remarkable and brave fight.
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Three Years in Prison for Blogging

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Today is the third anniversary of Raif Badawi’s arrest and the beginning of his imprisonment in a Saudi Arabian jail. One thousand one hundred and nineteen days since he was taken from his wife, seen in the photo above, and their children. Many protests are planned for today at embassies around the world; English PEN delivered a letter to 10 Downing St. today demanding official help in securing his immediate release. It was accepted but not by PM Cameron.

The immigration minister of Québéc, where his wife and children live, granted him a special immigration certificate a few days ago, which is remarkable and kind and, should he be released, needed. Declaring him welcome will not pry him from prison, and Saudi Arabia has already officially complained about Québécois “meddling,” however.

Raif Badawi’s story has earned more and more media interest in the last week. First, the fears expressed in this space (“A Sense of Injustice“) and elsewhere that the flogging that was suspended in January would be resumed came to naught, even though the supreme court reaffirmed his sentence last week. He was not flogged last Friday. Official reasons were not given, yet official and ominous statements of outrage at the global effort on Raif Badawi’s behalf continued to be released.
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An Urgent Need for Action

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

“There is no further appeal possible in the Saudi courts (for Raif Badawi). At this point, Mr. Badawi’s only hope lies in a pardon from King Salman bin Abdulaziz.” The editorial page of the New York Times today (June 10) added its voice to those of hundreds of thousands who have signed petitions, Tweeted, made phone calls, traveled to protests. It published an editorial signed by its entire editorial board titled “Clemency for Raif Badawi.”

There is a new urgency to the case of the Saudi Arabian blogger imprisoned for publishing his unapproved thoughts because last week the Saudi Arabian Supreme Court upheld the horrid sentence of 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes by a whip or a cane, as detailed in this space on June 7 in “A Sense of Injustice.”
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