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Saudi blogger Raif Badawi released after 10 years in prison for ‘insulting Islam’

  • Before his detention in 2012, award-winning blogger Raif Badawi was known for his writings in support of freedom of expression
  • In addition to his imprisonment, he was also sentenced in 2014 to 50 lashes a week for 20 weeks, but the floggings soon ceased after an international outcry

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Activists take part in an Amnesty International protest in 2015 against Raif Badawi’s flogging outside Saudi Arabia’s embassy in London. Photo: EPA
Agence France-Pressein Montreal

After 10 years in prison for “insulting Islam”, Saudi blogger and human rights activist Raif Badawi, who has become a symbol of freedom of expression around the world, was released on Friday.

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

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

Ensaf Haidar, wife of Raif Badawi, holds a picture of her husband after accepting the European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize on his behalf in 2015. Photo: AFP
Ensaf Haidar, wife of Raif Badawi, holds a picture of her husband after accepting the European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize on his behalf in 2015. Photo: AFP

“I jumped when I found out. I couldn’t believe it. I can’t wait to see my dad, I’m so excited,” said one of his daughters, Nawja Badawi, 18.

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”.

At the end of 2014, Badawi, now 38, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 50 lashes a week for 20 weeks.

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