Raif Badawi: 9 years in a Saudi prison
Things are not going well for Raif Badawi. The Saudi Arabian writer has been in prison in the Gulf state since June 2012, when he was arrested for what he wrote on a website that he founded called Free Saudi Liberals.
Badawi was charged with "insulting Islam" by
promoting secularism on his blog. In 2014, he was sentenced to 10 years in
prison, a $266,000 fine and 1,000 lashes. Despite a number of international
campaigns to try and secure an earlier release, he may well remain in jail in
Saudi Arabia until late February 2022. This would be the date of his release
according to the Islamic calendar that was used to sentence him.
His wife, Ensaf Haidar, who now lives in Canada with the
couple's three children, said that her husband continues to suffer. He has
previously gone on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his
imprisonment. In the past his belongings, including books and medication, have
been confiscated.
Travel ban even after eventual release
"Raif is in psychological distress and needs to be
released from prison quickly," she told DW. "I hope it will be very,
very soon. There is a relaxation of the laws [in Saudi Arabia], a little more equality
between men and women, and the country is modernizing. Raif wanted all of this
for our country. But," she added, "what worries me is that after 10
years in prison, he is prohibited from leaving the country."
Part of Badawi's 2014 sentence involves a decade-long travel
ban, which would essentially prevent him from leaving Saudi Arabia after he is
released.
The couple's three children are now teenagers and have grown
up without their father, Haidar added. "For them, it is worse today
because the older they get, the more they are aware that their father has been
missing during their childhood."
Becoming Canadian
The 10-year travel ban "creates a real imposition in
humanitarian terms, with family reunification and in other ways," said
Irwin Cotler, head of the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human
Rights; Cotler provides international legal representation for Badawi.
This is why measures to try to make Badawi a Canadian
citizenare so important right now, Cotler, argued.
Canada has the discretion to grant citizenship to any person
in cases of "special and unusual hardship," according to the
country's Citizenship Act and, in January, the lower house of the Canadian
Parliament approved a motion that would grant Badawi Canadian citizenship. This
month, on June 4, the upper house of parliament, the Senate, also passed a
motion approving of citizenship for the Saudi Arabian writer.
"In my view, granting [him] Canadian citizenship could
have several benefits," said Julie Miville-Dechene, the Canadian senator
who tabled the Senate motion. It would give the Canadian government more
opportunities to provide Badawi with consular and legal assistance, she said,
as well as to arrange consular visits and possibly improve his situation in
jail.
"Such visits and consular assistance could alleviate
his psychological distress and would be of great comfort to his
relatives," said Miville-Dechene.
International pressure
Canadian citizenship might also make it easier for Badawi to
leave the country when he gets out of prison. However, Miville-Dechene added,
it's also important to remember that Saudi Arabia doesn't recognize dual
nationality. "Nothing is certain," she told DW, "but at least it
would give some hope."
As yet Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino has not
granted the request made by both houses of his parliament.
Badawi's lawyer, Cotler, said he had spoken to Mendicino
about this: "He has taken account of all the reasons [why citizenship for
Badawi would be good] so I am hoping they will move ahead with this."
While in prison, Badawi has been given a number of different
awards, including the European Union's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in
2015 and the DW Freedom of Speech award the same year. There is no doubt that
his cause receives much international attention and that public pressure has
mounted.
Do campaigns work?
Supporter groups around the world have held regular vigils,
including virtual vigils during the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 17, a variety of
events has been scheduled around the world to mark the ninth anniversary of
Badawi's original arrest. These include a protest outside the Saudi Arabian
Embassy in Berlin organized by the local branch of Reporters Without Borders.
But does such public pressure really help the cause of
Badawi, and other political prisoners like his own sister, activist Samar
Badawi?
For instance, this week Saudi Arabia executed a 26-year-old,
Mustafa al-Darwish, who had taken part in political protests in 2011 and 2012
when he was likely aged under 18. This was despite campaigning by international
human rights organizations, calling upon the Saudi authorities not to use
capital punishment on individuals who allegedly committed crimes as children.
"It is fair enough to be cynical," Cotler
conceded. Nonetheless, he said he believes public pressure works, arguing that
things would likely be worse for political prisoners everywhere, if there
wasn't any.
For example, part of Badawi's original punishment included
1,000 lashes. In January 2015, he was given the first batch of these in public,
in front of a mosque. But, as Cotler pointed out, "there was such an
international outcry after the first 50 lashes, that the rest of the punishment
was not implemented and now," he added, referring to the fact that in
early 2020 Saudi Arabia abolished flogging as a legal punishment, "it
never will be."
Tipping points
Cotler also thinks that the change in US leadership — from
Donald Trump to President Joe Biden — is helpful to the Badawi's cause, and
those of other Saudi Arabian dissidents.
"President Biden has said that human rights will be
factored into the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia," Cotler
pointed out.
"In all the years, I have been involved with political
prisoners, the changes don't come because an authoritarian regime suddenly
finds an interest in, or understanding of, justice," the former Canadian
justice minister concluded. "It is something they do in their own
self-interest. That's the tipping point for them."
Developments such as these also give Badawi's wife, Haidar,
some hope. "On behalf of my children, of Raif, and on my own behalf, we
would be so happy if the Saudi royal family were to spare Raif the last months
of his imprisonment and allow him to come to join the family that impatiently
awaits him," she told DW. "We need his presence."
Comments
Post a Comment