Recall the Imprisoned Saudi Blogger, Raif Badawi, whose public flogging in 2015 generated global outcry. His supporters claim he now risk a new round of lashes.
According to Evelyne Abitbol, founder of Raif Badawi Foundation with Badawi’s wife, she said a “reliable source” in Saudi Arabia claims he faces a new flogging soon.
Abitbol declined to name the source but said it was the same person who had alerted Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, in 2015 before he received his first 50 lashes, the only part of the flogging that was reportedly administered.
The foundation director further stated that the source did not indicate when the flogging would take place, “Unfortunately, it could happen at any time, if it happens,” Abitbol said by phone in Montreal.
She wants Saudi Arabia to withdraw the flogging punishment, strip Badawi of his Saudi citizenship and let him leave the country for Canada.
She added that Haidar has asked countries with ties to Saudi Arabia, including the Canadian government, to intervene on the blogger’s behalf.
However, Haidar, who is in Germany to present a journalism award on Wednesday in her husband’s name, could not be immediately reached for comment. She was granted asylum in Canada, where she lives with the couple’s three children in the province of Quebec.
In addition, Saudi embassy officials in Ottawa and Saudi government officials in Riyadh were not immediately available for comment as at the time this report came out, and Reuters was unable to independently confirm the source’s claims.
In addition, Saudi embassy officials in Ottawa and Saudi government officials in Riyadh were not immediately available for comment as at the time this report came out, and Reuters was unable to independently confirm the source’s claims.
The Imprisoned Blogger was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and 1,000 lashes in 2014 for breaking the kingdom’s technology laws and also for insulting Islam and in December 2015, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.
