Tag: Raif Badawi

It’s Thursday again. In a few hours it will be Friday morning in Saudi-family Arabia.

From Italy, via Ensaf Haidar:

From Tunisia via Ensaf:

Via Ensaf’s wall – Copenhagen today:

Amnesty reports a new fact relating to Raif Badawi –

Raif Badawi was not publicly flogged on Friday 30 January for unclear reasons. Unlike in previous weeks he was not called from his cell and examined by the prison doctor. It is unclear why the routine medical check-up did not take place and or why the flogging was postponed.

Amnesty International also learned that Raif Badawi’s case was referred on 3 February from the Supreme Court back to the Court of Appeal in Jeddah. No further information about the details of this transfer were made available. The Supreme Court could have upheld the conviction and sentence, or it could have called for a retrial by overturning the sentence and conviction or by making observations and recommendations. The Saudi Arabian authorities have not yet made an official statement on the case despite the international outcry.

However as long as the sentence to flogging and prison stands, Raif Badawi remains at risk of flogging and will serve his 10-year prison sentence.

The Supreme Court has sent the case back to the Court of Appeal in Jeddah. It’s impossible to know what that could mean, but…to an outsider it looks like people in Saud-family Arabia passing a hot potato around, trying to figure out how to get out of a mess with the least possible embarrassment to themselves.

Wo.

The Beeb reports:

The new Saudi King Salman has issued a decree pardoning what are described as “public right” prisoners, which could include Mr Badawi.

Suad al-Shammary, a rights activist and lawyer who worked with Mr Badawi on his blog, was released on Friday.

She had been held for three months without charge over comments she made on Twitter, which her opponents portrayed as anti-Islamic.

Wo. If she can, Raif can.

Mr Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar – who lives in Canada – told the BBC she was buoyed by Friday’s developments.

“I ask the world to remain by my side until Raif is released.”

Damn right.

She said she now hated Fridays – the day of lashings. “I turn into a mess, until I know his [Raif’s] fate.”

I bet Thursdays aren’t so hot either. Saturday through Wednesday? Well they suck too.

Until Raif is released.

Another action we can take, via Amnesty – send an email to Simon Collis, the new UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, asking him to

• Prioritise Raif’s case in all meetings with the Saudi Arabian authorities
• Meet with the Minister responsible in the Saudi Arabian government and ask permission to visit Raif in prison.

That will be a pain in the neck for the new ambassador, so he will want the Saudis to free Raif and let him leave the country immediately.

A thought has occurred to me about Saud-family Arabia and the torture of Raif Badawi.

They’re boxing themselves in. By repeatedly postponing the torture, they’re admitting that they can’t do it without causing permanent damage. They have no qualms about doing that, of course, but they know they’re under a spotlight, and it must be getting quite warm there.

Hello Era of Social Media.

They’re stuck. This isn’t going away, and in fact it’s doing the opposite – it’s both growing and intensifying. They clearly don’t feel happy about just going ahead and flogging Raif again anyway…but nor do they feel happy about letting the horrible infidels and apostates win.

They should have thought of that sooner.

The lashes were postponed again, with no reason given.

I wonder if they’re getting anxious about the rapidly spreading global odium.

I certainly hope so.

Raif should be in Sherbrooke with Ensaf and their three children.

Via Facebook.

A report commissioned by Amnesty International says – entirely unsurprisingly – that further lashes to Raif Badawi would cause permanent damage. Ludovica Iaccino gives the details.

Now, a medical expert from from the charity Freedom from Torture has warned in a report commissioned by Amnesty International that more lashes are likely to cause permanent damage.

Dr Juliet Cohen, head of doctors at Freedom from Torture, explained: “When the cane strikes, the blood is forced from the tissues beneath… Damage to the small blood vessels and individual cells causes leakage of blood and tissue fluid into the skin and underlying tissue, increasing the tension in these areas.

“The more blows are inflicted on top of one another, the more chance of open wounds being caused. This is important because they are likely to be more painful and at risk of infection, which will cause further pain over a prolonged period as infection delays the wounds’ healing.”

Which is the goal, isn’t it. Cause lots and lots of pain, and do serious and cumulative damage. Do as much harm as possible, in as visible a way as possible – do it in public, in front of a crowd, right after “prayers,” in front of The Holy Building. Make very very sure that everybody within reach of this vile regime

1. hates liberals and infidels
2. is terrified to say anything about anything

It’s not just the skin and muscle on the back, either.

There is also the long-term damage done to the victim’s mental health caused by flogging.

“Psychologically, flogging may cause feelings of fear, anxiety, humiliation and shame. Anticipation of the next scheduled flogging is likely to cause heightened emotions especially of fear, anxiety and difficulty sleeping… pain and fear together over a prolonged period have a deeply debilitating effect and recovery from such experiences may take considerable time,” said Cohen.

And all this is not for someone who tortured a bunch of people to death. It’s not for a murderer. It’s not for a génocidaire. It’s not for a Bernie Madoff type who stole the savings of thousands of people and left them broke. It’s for a guy who said something the rulers and the clerics dislike. That’s all. That’s all this murderous sadism is about.

Speaking to IBTimes UK, director of Amnesty UK Kate Allen said: “The world should be shocked and horrified by what’s happening in Saudi Arabia.

“The flogging is going to happen as long as Badawi’s health holds up. We are campaigning worldwide, to have this flogging stopped and to have him freed from prison. Because he is a prisoner of conscience.

“We will continue to campaign and we need to make sure that the international community raises its voice.

“There is no freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, where the government uses torture and death penalty in a shocking way and human rights are not observed.”

It’s a government of murderous sadists. It’s the Kingdom of Murderous Sadists. Sadist Arabia.

Ensaf Haidar tells us that Raif is all emotional about the Independent’s campaign for him.

Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian blogger whose punishment of 1,000 lashes has led to an international outcry, is mentally “very strong” and taking great heart from the campaign to free him, his wife has told The Independent.

In an email exchange, Ensaf Haidar said she remains hopeful that her husband will be released soon, despite being sentenced to 10 years in prison and 50 lashes a week for 20 weeks for criticising the country’s clerics through his liberal blog. He is still recovering from his first round of flogging.

She talked to him five days ago; he said he’s still recovering but basically ok.

She added that she had started to tell him about the international attention his case was attracting – but was surprised at his emotional reaction when he heard that The Independent was campaigning for his release. “I want to thank you for supporting my husband,” she wrote. “For many years, one of Raif’s dreams was to write an article for the The Independent.

“When I told him that The Independent wrote on its front page ‘Free Raif Badawi’, he was crying and he told me about his dream. So many, many thanks.”

Thanks Indy. There are lots of us on your team, Raif.

His cause has been taken up around the world by governments and organisations including Amnesty International. It was reported on Friday that the Saudi authorities had agreed to halt the flogging and reduce Mr Badawi’s sentence but this has yet to be confirmed.

The death of King Abdullah in the early hours of Friday morning has provoked fresh scrutiny of his kingdom’s human rights record and relationship with the West. The UK Government’s decision to lower flags on public buildings in his honour was criticised as excessive and inappropriate by some MPs.

Yep. Bad timing for all the ass-kissing, what with Raif and that prolonged beheading of the foreign woman and the release of the cleric who tortured his 5-year-old daughter to death because he was suspicious of her “virginity.” Really sucky timing.

Here’s a good one to pass around.

Via Elham Manea on Twitter –

London –

Tunisia –

Jordan –

The people

united

shall never be defeated.

More protests in more places for Raif.

Via Amnesty on Twitter –

Belfast City Hall –

Via Amnesty Ireland –

The Saudi embassy in Dublin –

Another protest, this time in Houston yesterday.

Hm. We have a discrepancy in what people are saying about Raif. As I posted a few hours ago, Amnesty says the doctors have said he shouldn’t be flogged again, but they also said

Raif Badawi is still at risk, there is no way of knowing whether the Saudi Arabian authorities will disregard the medical advice and allow the flogging to go ahead.

But the BBC is reporting that as Amnesty saying “Saudi Arabia has postponed the flogging” – which is inaccurate. Did the Beeb just misread it?

They go on –

Amnesty said the decision was made after doctors advised against this week’s 50 lashes on health grounds.

But Amnesty didn’t say that. They said the opposite, and I’m not seeing any update on their site.

Confusing.

Via Twitter –

FgN @felooz_tweets · 4 hours ago
Protesting with @SAIDYOUSIF in Berlin to demand freedom & end to the flogging of Raif Badawi. #FreeRaif .@amnesty_de

Another –

Cem Özdemir @cem_oezdemir · 7 hours ago
Jetzt vor Botschaft von #SaudiArabien in Berlin. Stoppt die Folter! Freiheit für #RaifBadawi! – Danke, @amnesty!

Another–

Conflict News @rConflictNews · 5 hours ago
Protest now infront of #saudi embassy in #Berlin demanding to stop the flogging of .@raif_badawi via @SAIDYOUSIF

One more –

FgN @felooz_tweets · 5 hours ago
With @SAIDYOUSIF protesting infront of Saudi Embassy in Berlin demandin freedom for Raif Badawi #FreeRaif @amnesty_de

The Guardian talks to Ensaf Haider.

A few days before his birthday, the liberal Saudi blogger Raif Badawi received 50 lashes in front of a mosque in Jeddah, his hometown. Thousands of miles away, in her modest basement flat in Québec, his wife decided to avenge his cruel treatment with a birthday party. She put a piece of cake aside to be frozen for him, just in case.

“I feel destroyed. But I don’t want to sit in a corner and cry,” says Ensaf Haidar softly, sitting on her eldest daughter’s bed. “That would be letting Raif and my children down.”

I so badly want him to get to eat that piece of cake…before it gets freezer burn.

Haidar is composed but visibly exhausted from the events of the last few weeks. The first flogging of her husband took place, after Friday prayers, on 9 January, and sparked an international outcry. But she hides her sadness as much as possible from their three children. As she talks, Tirad, 10, plays hockey with two blond-haired boys in the hallway. His team are the Montreal Canadians, local heroes in Québec.

Badawi’s wife and children have fled a land of sand and blistering heat for Sherbrooke, a snowy, moose-spotting town of about 150 000 residents some 150km (93 miles) east of Montreal. The family was granted refugee status in Canada upon their arrival in October 2013, and this is where she calls home now.

I hope Raif can get some comfort from the fact that his children are free from the Saudi torturers. Well obviously he does get some, because how could he not; I hope he gets enough to help him.

They married in 2002 and honeymooned in Syria. Among her many pictures in her living room, there is one of them smoking shisha in Damascus, looking carefree and innocent, her hair uncovered. “With him, I could be myself. He would treat me with as much respect in public and in private, contrary to other Saudi husbands. And he would even vacuum at home,” she says, proudly.

After he founded the Free Saudi Liberals in 2008, Badawi started being intimidated by the regime. He had envisaged the blog as a forum for social and political debate, but the authorities viewed it with suspicion.

What’s there to debate, from their point of view? There’s haram and there’s halal. Simple; nothing to debate.

the young idealist, who also owned a language and IT school, quickly became a pariah and was banned from leaving the kingdom in 2009. Haidar’s father took legal steps to enforce a divorce but she refused and has not spoken to her family since.

Increasingly worried for the children, the young couple organised for her to leave in the winter of 2012 with Najwa, 11, Tirad and Myriam, 7. “He promised to join us two months later, and I thought to myself: but that’s an eternity!”

She could not have known then that, more than two years later, she would still be waiting. Haidar, who has obtained her permanent residency in Canada, has not been able to hear her husband’s voice since he was moved to a new jail three weeks ago.

Though he tried to reassure her, she could tell his spirits were low. “Being separated from the children is the most difficult thing for him, she says. “He wonders what age they will be when he sees them again – 20 years old? 30 years old? The thought is unbearable.”

So, that answers my question. No. He misses them too much for that to be possible.

Given that Badawi, who turned 31 on 13 January, is diabetic and does not have a strong build, she is deeply worried about his receiving another 50 lashes on Friday.

At the same time, though, she is not giving up hope. The US, EU, Britain and others have urged Riyadh not to pursue Badawi’s flogging – even if there is still no sign that Saudi Arabia’s key western allies will back up their rhetoric with punitive action.

I wonder if the Saudi authorities ever consider how their actions make people loathe the religion that motivates them to torture Raif.

Eighteen Nobel laureates have written an open letter calling on Saudi academics to condemn the flogging. On Thursday, Amnesty International will hold vigils outside the Saudi embassies in London and Ottawa, while protests are planned for countries including Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Ottawa, you see? Told you so.

Haidar takes succour from the knowledge that, in the past, the Kingdom has eventually bowed to international pressure over its treatment of detainees. The British-Canadian William Sampson was released in 2003 after being tortured for two years and seven months in a Riyadh jail.

She firmly believes that Badawi will one day live with her in Sherbrooke, and she behaves as such, filling in her income tax forms as a married woman rather than a single parent even though the latter would bring in more benefits.

If her wish comes true, she will greet him at the Montreal airport by doing something that is strictly forbidden in the streets of Jeddah. “I will give him the biggest kiss on the mouth!” she says, smiling like a school girl in love.

Show them!