Supporters of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi hope he will soon be released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence and be allowed by Saudi Arabia to be reunited with his family in Canada.
Human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler, who has represented Mr. Badawi internationally since 2014, says talks between representatives of the European Union (EU) and those of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have sparked the hope that the blogger will be released in the coming days.
However, he specifies that pressure must be exerted to allow Mr. Badawi to join his wife and children, who live in Quebec. Although his prison sentence has ended, Raif Badawi still faces a 10-year travel ban, a ban on working in the media and a punitive fine of $335,000 which was handed down at the time of his arrest. conviction.
We are talking about a kind of prison without walls where he is deprived of travel for the next 10 years, said Me Cotler, who is also a former federal justice minister and founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights.
“It would be the equivalent of continuing the punishment outside of prison, with the same intense pain of being deprived of the presence of his wife and children,” Cotler said.
Raif Badawi was imprisoned in 2012 and sentenced in 2014 to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of one million Saudi riyals for criticizing the country’s religious authorities. He received 50 lashes in January 2015 in a public flogging, but has reportedly not been whipped since.
Mr Cotler said he did not fear further floggings for his client, as the Saudi Supreme Court banned the practice in 2020.
His wife, Ensaf Haidar, counted down the expected release date on her Twitter account. She and the couple’s three children have lived in Sherbrooke, Quebec since 2013.
– 1 day for release #RaifBadawi We have all been hoping for this day for a long time. We are a coordinating committee with @TheRWCHR @IrwinCotler Brandon Silver @yonahdiamond @EvelyneAbitbol and myself. Please refer to us for any updated information. ??
— Ensaf Haidar ⚜️ (@miss9afi) February 27, 2022
The imprisonment of Raif Badawi has drawn strong international condemnation.
Many government organizations as well as advocacy groups demanded his release.
According to Mr. Cotler, the writings for which Mr. Badawi was imprisoned, which promote human rights and democracy, are in line with the reforms that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been advocating for five years, namely the call to a more open Saudi Arabia and a more moderate Islam.
“In other words, it’s not only the right thing to do, but in terms of Saudi Arabia, it would be in its own political, economic and national interest to do it,” said Irwin Cotler.