N-VA MEP personally pleads case for release of blogger Badawi with Saudi government

N-VA MEP Mark Demesmaeker, the European Conservatives and Reformists’ (ECR) spokesperson on human rights, met the Saudi Minister of Justice and asked him personally to release the blogger Raif Badawi. “A release still seems taboo. Stopping the thousand lashes, however, is indeed an option now,” says Demesmaeker. “Obviously this is still largely insufficient, but it would be an important step in the right direction.”

Together with the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Demesmaeker has been in Saudi Arabia, where he has met with several dignitaries: “We spoke with the Saudi Minister of Justice. I asked him directly for the release of Badawi. A man like Badawi doesn’t belong behind bars and no one deserves such a brutal treatment.”

The Saudi minister didn’t reply to Demesmaeker’s request for release. But he would consider stopping the lashing, if Badawi’s medical condition would require this. “I didn’t get a clear promise. But we must embrace each step that can improve the inhuman situation of Badawi. I will keep on fighting for his release and will continue to engage in a direct dialogue with the Saudi government.”

Champion of freedom of thought

Badawi was arrested in 2012 because, according to the Saudi government, he “insulted Islam” in his blogs. The 31-year-old blogger was sentenced to a prison term of ten years and a thousand lashes. In mid-December he received the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, which is annually awarded to a champion of freedom of thought.