After ten years in prison, ten years of prohibition to leave the territory. Saudi Arabia confirmed on Saturday the ban on leaving Saudi territory for the next ten years for blogger and human rights activist Raef Badawi, released the day before.
“The sentencing of Raef Badawi to ten years in prison was followed upon his release by a ban on leaving the country for the same period. The court had rendered its decision and it is final,” a source in the Saudi Interior Ministry said on condition of anonymity. “He therefore cannot leave the territory for the next ten years unless a (royal) pardon is granted to him,” added this source.
Arrested in 2012 and sentenced in 2014
The former winner of the Reporters Without Borders prize for press freedom, aged 38, was arrested in 2012 and then sentenced at the end of 2014 to ten years in prison and 50 lashes a week for twenty weeks for having pleaded in particular for an end to the influence of religion on public life.
The first flogging session in a public square in Saudi Arabia in 2015 shocked the world for its “medieval” character, in the words of a Swedish minister at the time. He was not whipped again afterwards. Ensaf Haidar, the wife of Raef Badawi, announced on Friday that her husband was “free”, news confirmed by a Saudi security official.
Quebec open to welcoming Raef Badawi
After the release of Raef Badawi, Amnesty indicated in an email “to work actively so that all the conditions” linked to his release are “lifted”, in particular this ban on leaving Saudi territory for 10 years.
Quebec, where Raef Badawi’s wife and three children live, paved the way for the blogger’s exile to Canada by placing him on a priority list of potential immigrants for humanitarian reasons. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “relieved” by the journalist’s release on Friday on Twitter. Earlier, Quebec Premier François Legault also tweeted: “Finally! I keep thinking about the children who will finally find their father! “.
The brutal repression of dissenting voices and the imprisonment of activists in Saudi Arabia are to this day denounced by international NGOs and the UN, even if the kingdom seeks to improve its international image by undertaking certain reforms. Raef Badawi’s sister, Samar Badawi, as well as activist Nassima al-Sadah, released in 2021, remain stranded in the kingdom.
RSF Prize Winner
A Sunni Muslim like the majority of Saudis, Raef Badawi studied economics and ran an institute for learning English and computer techniques, according to his wife. He became known for his writings in favor of freedom of expression.
The blogger won the 2014 RSF prize in the netizen category. He was also chosen in 2015 by the leaders of the political groups of the European Parliament as the winner of the Sakharov Prize for freedom of expression. In 2015 and 2016, he was among the nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize.