The Canadian government is calling the flogging of Saudi Arabian blogger Rasif Badawi “a violation of human dignity.”
Last Friday, Badawi received the first 50 of 1,000 lashes he will suffer for offences including setting up an online forum for public debate and insulting Islam. He was also fined one million riyals (about $315,000Cdn).
Family sought refuge in Canada
Badawi’s wife and three children fled Saudi Arabia and have settled as refugees in Sherbrooke in the Canadian province of Quebec.
A spokesman for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs said that while Badawi is not a Canadian citizen, government officials are following his case “in the context of human rights and have raised his case in dialogue with Saudi Arabia.”
The United States has asked Saudi Arabia to cancel the sentence of 1,000 lashes.
Amnesty International Canada has called on the Canadian government to do more in this case. It has also repeatedly said the government should do more to secure the release of Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy now held in an Egyptian prison. Canada’s foreign affairs minister has gone to Egypt to try to press for Fahmy’s release.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.