Jailed blogger wins award

THE wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi accepted yesterday the European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize on his behalf and urged Arab countries to embrace free speech.

Ensaf Haidar told the packed assembly that her husband, sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, believed “freedom of expression is like the air that we breathe”.

“It would have been nice if my husband could have received the prize personally,” she said as his award was placed on an empty chair.

The Sakharov prize is awarded to honour individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression.

Ms Haidar entered parliament in Strasbourg to sustained applause, carrying a photograph of her husband and calling for a minute’s silence to mark the victims of last month’s deadly jihadist attacks in Paris.

Parliament president Martin Schulz called on Saudi King Salman to release Mr Badawi.

The blogger, 31, was arrested in 2012 and his initial public flogging of 50 lashes sparked an international outcry against Saudi Arabia and its human rights record. He co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network internet discussion group that promoted free speech and sought an end to the influence of religious leaders on public life in one of the world’s most conservative countries.

Ms Haidar, who now lives in Canada with the couple’s three children, said progress depended on a country allowing freedom of thought.

She urged Arab rulers to embrace the future instead of clamping down.

“An intellectual in an Arab country has always had to beat about the bush to get his message across. In some, their views are considered blasphemy, decadent,” she said.

“In the Arab world under the yoke of theocratic regimes they call on citizens to nod and accept everything religious leaders tell them,” she said.

It would have been nice if he could have received the prize personally