Jailed Saudi blogger faces new probe

The Saudi Arabian blogger with links to Canada who has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for nearly a decade is under a new investigation for allegedly harming the reputation of the country, according to his international legal team.

Raif Badawi has been in a Saudi prison cell since June 2012 for insulting Islam by promoting liberal views on his blog. As part of his sentence, he was publicly flogged 50 times in front of a mosque in 2015.

His case has received international attention, with numerous governments and human rights groups calling attention to his plight.

Now they say Badawi and his wife, Ensaf Haidar, who lives in Canada, are both under investigation for “influencing public opinion” and “damaging the reputation of the Kingdom.”

“They add insult to injury to a long list of oppressive and aggressive acts against him,” said Brandon Silver, director of policies and projects at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, which is working for Badawi’s release.

Silver said he fears that the Saudi authorities are using the allegations as a pretext to extend Badawi’s 10-year sentence, which is nearing its end.

“It is difficult to discern, given the opacity of the Saudi Arabian system, what practical impacts (these investigations) will have. But it’s certainly very negative,silver speculated in a telephone interview on Monday.

At the very least, “It’s an attempt to silence the family,” he said.

He also protested against “targeting” Ensaf Haidar, a Canadian citizen, in an “extraterritorial” investigation.

Haidar, since arriving in Sherbrooke, Que., has campaigned for the release of her husband.

The Raoul Wallenberg Centre demands that the Canadian government respond by imposing economic sanctions on the Saudi Kingdom.

Silver would also like Ottawa to raise the Badawi case in all its contacts with its American and European allies.

Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeated that “the Government of Canada is extremely concerned about the case of Raïf Badawi,” without commenting on this latest development.

In January, the House of Commons voted unanimously to demand Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino grant Canadian citizenship to Badawi.

“There are a number of distinctive Canadian connections given that his wife and children are Canadian citizens,” said former MP Irwin Cotler, who is Badawi’s international counsel. “We feel that his case is now a kind of cause célèbre with respect to so many different human rights themes.”

Badawi’s sister, Samar Badawi, and his Saudi lawyer, Waleed Abulkhair, have also been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.