Saudi Arabia
Blogger Badawi freed after ten years in prison
The wife of imprisoned Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi, Ensaf Haidar, shows a picture of her husband in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg in November 2015. Photo: Patrick Seeger/epa/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
After a decade he is free again: The political blogger Raid Badawi was allowed to leave prison today – but he has to stay in the country.
Saudi blogger Raid Badawi has been released from prison, according to his wife. “After 10 years in prison, Raif is free!” Ensaf Haidar, the blogger’s wife, wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Haidar lives in Canada with their three children. The organization ALQST, which works for human rights in Saudi Arabia, also tweeted that Badawi was now free after his prison sentence had expired. Badawi is now not allowed to travel for ten years. The Saudi authorities initially did not comment on this.
Raif Badawi is one of the best-known political prisoners in Saudi Arabia. In 2014, the Saudi judiciary sentenced him to ten years in prison, a travel ban and a fine of around 238,000 euros and 1,000 strokes of the cane. The accusation: With his blog entries he is said to have insulted Islam by suggesting the separation of state and religion. Security forces arrested the blogger in 2012.
Numerous writers, celebrities and his wife had called for Badawi’s release in the past. The blogger has since gone on a hunger strike to protest the poor prison conditions. According to estimates by the human rights organization Amnesty International, there are at least 3,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.
The Deputy Secretary General of the organization in Germany, Julia Duchrow, said: “Every single day that Raif Badawi has spent behind bars shows how far away Saudi Arabia is from a constitutional state that respects and upholds human rights.” Peaceful criticism of a government must be possible and remain unpunished. “Journalism is not a crime.”