RAIF (RAEF) MUHAMMED BADAWI

 

RAIF (RAEF) MUHAMMED BADAWI (b. 1984)

Badawi is a writer and activist from Saudi Arabia. He created the website Free Saudi Liberals where he wrote about free speech.

In 2012, he was arrested on a charge of insulting Islam and brought to court for charges involving apostasy. In his writings, he criticized religion in Saudi Arabia. He was originally given a death sentence but then sentenced to 1000 lashes and ten years in prison in 2014. In 2015, he endured 50 lashes in public. While in prison, he has undertaken hunger strikes to protest the conditions.

Badawi was first detained on apostasy charges in 2008, but was released after a day of questioning. The government banned him from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts in 2009. The family of Badawi's wife subsequently filed a court action to forcibly divorce the couple on grounds of Badawi's alleged apostasy. Following Badawi's 2012 arrest, Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience, "detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression". A spokesman for the group stated that, "Even in Saudi Arabia where state repression is rife, it is beyond the pale to seek the death penalty for an activist whose only 'crime' was to enable social debate online".

His wife, Ensaf Haidar, lives in Canada and has accepted awards on his behalf.