Saudi blogger Raif Badawi freed after 10 years in jail, wife says

Prize-winning writer was arrested in in 2012 on charges of ‘insulting Islam’; no details of his release conditions given, including possible 10-year travel ban

By AFP 11 March 2022, 9:53 pm

Edit

In this file photo taken on December 16, 2015, Ensaf Haidar holds a picture of her husband Raif Badawi after accepting the European Parliament's Sakharov human rights prize on behalf of her husband, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, in eastern France. (Patrick Hertzog/AFP)

MONTREAL — Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has been released from prison in Saudi Arabia after serving a 10-year sentence for advocating an end to religious influence on public life, his wife said Friday.

“Raif called me. He is free,” his wife Ensaf Haidar, who lives in Canada with their three children and had been advocating for his release, told AFP.

Badawi’s release was also confirmed by a Saudi security official who said on condition of anonymity that Badawi “was released today.”

The winner of the Reporters Without Borders prize for press freedom was arrested and detained in Saudi Arabia in 2012 on charges of “insulting Islam,” and at the end of 2014, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

As a result, the 38-year-old became a symbol of freedom of expression around the world.

No details of his release conditions — including a possible 10-year travel ban — were immediately available.

In this file photo taken on January 8, 2021, an activist of the human rights NGO Amnesty International holds a portrait of Raif Badawi in front of the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Brussels, calling for the release of the jailed Saudi blogger. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP)

Amnesty International said in an email to AFP that it would “actively work to have any conditions lifted.”

“Raif Badawi, human rights defender in Saudi Arabia, has finally been released!” Amnesty also tweeted.

“Thousands of you have mobilized alongside us in the defense of Raif Badawi for 10 years. A big thank you to all of you for your tireless support.”

Every Friday for almost seven years, Haidar had held a public vigil for Badawi in Canada.

After 10 years my father is free! pic.twitter.com/ZF2GePvHGu

— Tirad Badawi (@TiradRaifBadawi) March 11, 2022

Colette Lelievre, a Montreal-based campaign organizer with Amnesty, said his release was “a great relief.”

“Ensaf was at a loss for words because it was so sudden. She worked so hard to free her husband that emotions overwhelmed her,” Lelievre said Friday after speaking with Badawi’s wife.

“This is a big step forward for her,” she added.

Canada’s Quebec province has paved the way for Raif Badawi to come to the country if he chooses, by placing him on a priority list of potential immigrants for humanitarian reasons.