Ensaf Haidar, left, wife of blogger Raif Badawi, takes part in a rally for his freedom, Tuesday, January 13, 2015 in Montreal. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz UPDATE: BBC News reports that Saudi blogger Raif Badawi’s case has been referred to the country’s Supreme Court by the office of King Abdullah after an international outcry over his sentence.
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Saudi Arabia’s weekly flogging of Raif Badawi has been postponed because his wounds have not sufficiently healed from the previous week, Amnesty International said Friday.
Badawi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes (50 lashes per week) for operating Saudi Free Liberals, a blog and discussion forum that championed free speech in the repressive kingdom. Badawi received his first public flogging Jan. 9 in Jeddah.
Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar, who fled to Canada with her three young children after his arrest in 2012, confirmed the postponement to Agence France-Presse.
“The prison doctor saw Badawi’s health does not allow his flogging today,” she told the news agency. “But it will probably still take place next Friday.”
Official opposition leader Tom Mulcair has called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to speak out against Badawi’s torture. In a letter to the prime minister, the NDP leader said Canada “must make every effort to guarantee his release, allow him to return home to his family, and to prevent him from being subjected to this horrible punishment simply for having expressed his opinion.”
Foreign Minister John Baird, currently on a trip through the Middle East, says Ottawa has expressed its opposition to Badawi’s brutal punishment.
According to Amnesty International, Badawi was accused of ridiculing Saudi Arabia’s religious police — tasked with enforcing the country’s strict interpretation of Islamic law — as well as failing to remove “offensive” posts by others on his website. In addition to 10 years behind bars and his weekly floggings, Badawi was also fined the equivalent of about $320,000 and prevented from using any media or travelling until 2034.
Amnesty International considers Badawi a prisoner of conscience.
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