Badawi, Raif

First Arrest

Raif was first detained on charges of apostasy in 2008 , but was released after spending the whole day in interrogation ^[2] . The government of Saudi Arabia forbade him to leave the country and froze his bank account in 2009 ^[3] . The family of Insaf Haidar, the wife of Raif, filed a lawsuit, demanding the couple to be divorced on the basis of the alleged apostasy of Raif ^[2] .

Second Arrest

On June 17, 2012, Raif was arrested on charges of insulting Islam through electronic communication channels ^[2] . In December of the same year, he was summoned to court as a defendant on apostasy (pleading guilty to such a charge in Saudi Arabia automatically leads to the death penalty) ^{[4] [5]} . The human rights organization Human Rights Watch stated that the site of Raif Badawi contained materials criticizing “high religious figures” ^[5] . Raif also expressed the opinion that the Islamic University of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud has become a "den of terrorists" ^[6] .

Litigation

On December 17, 2012, Badawi appeared before the Jeddah District Court on charges of “creating a site that undermines overall security”, “ridiculed Islamic religious figures” and “goes beyond obedience” ^[7] . The judge referred the case to a higher court to examine the apostasy charges, stating that he “could not reach a verdict in the apostasy case” ^[8] . On December 22, the Jeddah court accepted the case of apostasy for consideration ^[7] , but subsequently refused to hear the case and returned it to the district court ^[9] .

Sentence

On July 30, 2013, Saudi media reported that Raif Badawi was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for creating a web forum that “violates Islamic values ​​and promotes liberal ideas.” The court also ordered the closure of the site ^[10] .

On December 26, 2013, the wife of Raif Badawi told CNN that the judge recommended that the case on apostasy be sent to the supreme court, which, if the defendant was found guilty, would lead to the death penalty ^[11] .

Raif’s lawyer, Walid Aboul-Khair , was jailed for setting up the human rights organization Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia . He was accused of “creating an unauthorized organization”: his requests for permission were rejected ^[12] .

In May 2014, it was reported that Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes, as well as to a fine of 1 million riyals for “insulting Islam” ^[13] .

On January 9, 2015, in the square in front of a mosque in Jeddah, in the presence of hundreds of eyewitnesses, he was hit 50 out of 1000 blows, which were supposed to be delivered over the next 20 weeks ^[1] . This incident was condemned by the deputy director of Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa programs, Saeed Boumedukha: “Flogging Raif Badawi is a vicious act of cruelty, prohibited by international law. Ignoring international calls to abolish flogging, the Saudi authorities have shown disgusting indifference to the most fundamental principles of human rights ” ^[14] . Anna Sainte-Marie, the official representative of the Canadian branch of Amnesty International and a close friend of his wife Raif, claims that he will not be able to survive such a number of attacks ^[15] .

In June 2015, the court confirmed the sentence to Raif, including beating.

After Raif’s arrest in 2012, Amnesty International called him a prisoner of conscience , “detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of speech.” The organization’s representative said that “even in Saudi Arabia, where state repression is common, it’s beyond the reach of the law to seek the death penalty for an activist whose only“ crime ”was to initiate a public discussion on the web” ^[16] . Human Rights Watch called on the Saudi government to drop the allegations, saying: “Accusations based solely on Badawi’s participation in the creation of a site for peaceful discussion of religion and religious figures violate his right to freedom of speech” ^[2] .

According to a Human Rights Watch report on Saudi Arabia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council : “Over the past years, Saudi authorities, on vague charges related exclusively to their peaceful enjoyment of basic rights, especially freedom of speech rights, have been harassed, harassed, harassed and imprisoned peaceful dissidents and human rights activists, including Abdullah al-Hamid , Muhammad al-Bayadi , Abd al-Karim al-Khudr , Umar al-Sayyid and Raif Badawi ” ^{[17] [18]} .

Qasim al-Ghazali , speaking at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council as a representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union ( IHEU ), criticized Saudi Arabia for the sentence pronounced by Raif Badawi. IHEU called the verdict “unjustifiable, cruel” ^{[19] [20]} .

In the fall of 2016, the Foreign Ministry of Canada sent a request to Saudi Arabia to release the activist and allow him to reunite with his family in this country. Saudi Arabia refused.

In 2002, he married Insaf Haidar. He is the father of three children (Tirad, Nadzhva and Miriam). In 2013, his wife and children received political asylum in Quebec , Canada .

Sister, Samar , a well-known human rights activist, winner of the US State Department Prize for her contribution to the development of women's rights. In 2010, Samar spent six months in prison for disobedience to his father ^[21] .

Religion

Badawi stated that he is a Muslim, but that “everyone has the right to choose faith or unbelief” ^[22] . The authoritative Saudi theologian Abdurrahman al-Barrak ( en ) qualified the words of Badawi on the equality of Muslims, Christians and Jews, disrespect for the holy month of Ramadan , the denial of the afterlife and other acts as undoubted kufr (disbelief) and called for the punishment of the apostate who ranked himself to Muslims ^[23] .

• Aikenhead Scottish Secular Society Award (2015)
• One Humanity Award of the Canadian PEN Club Center (2014)
• Netizen Prize of Reporters Without Borders International (2014)
• Sakharov Prize (2015) ^[24]

• Abdullah al-Hamid
• Saud Al Hashimi