{"id":21393,"date":"2022-03-13T09:19:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T13:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=21393"},"modified":"2022-03-13T09:22:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T13:22:42","slug":"raif-badawi-saudi-blogger-freed-after-decade-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/03\/13\/raif-badawi-saudi-blogger-freed-after-decade-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Raif Badawi: Saudi blogger freed after decade in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Saudi blogger Raif Badawi – jailed and sentenced to 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam online” – has been freed, his wife says.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Raif called me. He is free,” Ensaf Haidar told AFP news agency from Canada, where she fled with the couple’s three children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The blogger’s first 50 lashes caused a global outcry and he became an emblem of rights abuses in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There has been no official Saudi comment on his release.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Badawi’s son Terad also tweeted: “My father is free.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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His sentence ended on 1 March. However, he is subject to a 10-year-travel ban and it is unclear whether he will face other restrictions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The NGO Reporters Without Borders said it would work to ensure he can join his family in Canada despite the ban.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Badawi, now 38, established the Liberal Saudi Network, a forum that sought to encourage debate on religious and political matters in Saudi Arabia, in 2008.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2012, Mr Badawi was arrested in the city of Jeddah and charged with “insulting Islam through electronic channels” and “going beyond the realm of obedience”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Later that year, a judge recommended that he also be tried for apostasy, which carries the death penalty, because Mr Badawi had refused to “repent to God”.<\/p>\n

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But that was not pursued by prosecutors, and in 2013 he was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes by a criminal court on the initial charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2014, an appeals court upheld the conviction and increased the punishment to 10 years in prison and 1,000 public lashes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It also fined him 1m Saudi riyals ($267,000; \u00a3217,000) and banned him from any media work or foreign travel for 10 years after his release.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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#Raifestlibre<\/a> Apr\u00e8s 10 ans de d\u00e9tention #Raifestlibre<\/a> ! #Raifisfree<\/a> After 10 years in prison #Raifisfree<\/a> !
\n\u0628\u0639\u062f 10 \u0633\u0646\u0648\u0627\u062a \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u062c\u0646 #\u0631\u0627\u0626\u0641_\u062d\u0631\u0651\u0627\u064b<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/1VA0XjSofs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ensaf Haidar \u269c\ufe0f (@miss9afi) March 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n