On Tuesday and Wednesday I had the great honor of meeting with Ensaf Haidar, the wife of the heroic and courageous Raif Badawi. About Raif Badawi: “On 17 June 2012, he was arrested on a charge of insulting Islam through electronic channels, and in December of that year was also cited for apostasy, a conviction which carries an automatic death sentence. Human Rights Watch stated that Raif’s website had hosted material criticising ‘senior religious figures’. Raif had also suggested that Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University had become ‘a den for terrorists.’…On July 30, 2013, Saudi media reported that Raif Badawi had been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an Internet forum that ‘violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought’. The court also ordered the website closed. On December 26, 2013, Ensaf Haidar told CNN that a judge had recommended him to go before a high court for the apostasy charge which would result in a death penalty if convicted. On May 7, 2014 Raif was re-sentenced to 1000 lashes and ten years in prison. He also received a fine of 1 million riyal (equal to about $267,000).”
Raif Badawi is still in prison and is in poor health. This entire case is an outrage against human rights no less than that of Asia Bibi. Please read the full details of the case here, and do whatever you can, in your sphere in life, to call attention to Raif’s plight and to help get him freed.