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EU: RAIF BADAWI WINS SAKHAROV HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE
October 29, 2015: Raif Badawi, the Saudi blogger and activist sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam, won the EU’s Sakharov prize for human rights.
The announcement was greeted with a standing ovation at the European parliament in Strasbourg, France, but will be seen by Saudi Arabia as another diplomatic slight at a time when its domestic and international policies are coming under growing criticism.
Martin Schulz, the European parliament president, said: “I urge the king of Saudi Arabia to free him [Badawi], so he can accept the prize.”
“The European parliament has sent today a strong political and humanitarian message to Saudi Arabian authorities,” said Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal bloc. “We urge His Majesty King Salman to release Raif Badawi from prison and in any case to end the barbaric punishment of flogging.”
Badawi was arrested in 2012 on a charge of insulting Islam and indicted on several charges including apostasy. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes in 2013, and then re-sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison plus a fine in 2014. The sentence was upheld by the supreme court in June.
He received the first 50 lashes before hundreds of spectators in Jeddah in January, but subsequent sets have been postponed in the face of international condemnation and Badawi’s poor health. In March, he said it was “miraculous” that he had survived his first 50 lashes.
“All this cruel suffering happened to me only because I expressed my opinion,” he said.
Ensaf Haidar, Badawi’s wife, said this week she had been told the flogging would resume soon. She and their three children fled to Canada after receiving death threats. (Sources: theguardian.com, 29/10/2015)
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