WATCH ABOVE: Montrealers and politicians rally for the release of Raif Badawi
MONTREAL – Saudi Arabia has again delayed a planned flogging of a blogger, according to a report from Amnesty International.
The Twitter account of the organization’s press office said Raif Badawi was spared a flogging Friday for reasons not yet known.
READ MORE: Witness: Saudi blogger convicted of insulting Islam publicly flogged 50 times
Badawi is serving 10 years in prison and has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes for the blog criticizing Saudi Arabia’s clerics.
The first 50 lashes were delivered on Jan. 9. He was expected to receive 50 more every week for the following 19 weeks, according to Amnesty International.
READ MORE: Saudi Arabia postpones second flogging of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi
The next two floggings were postponed on medical grounds and the next round scheduled for Jan. 30 was delayed for unspecified reasons.
Badawi is not a Canadian citizen, but his wife and children fled Saudi Arabia in 2012 and settled in Sherbrooke in 2013.
He was arrested in 2012 after writing articles critical of Saudi Arabia’s clerics on his blog, which has since been shut down.
READ MORE: Does release of Souad al-Shammari mean Raif Badawi could be freed?
Badawi was originally sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes in 2013, but an appeals judge later stiffened the punishment and fined him one million Saudi riyals, or more than $300,000.
Badawi’s detention and sentence have stirred up worldwide condemnation.
READ MORE: Politicians call on Ottawa to help secure release of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi
Now-former foreign affairs minister John Baird, Development Minister Christian Paradis and Andrew Bennett, Canada’s ambassador for religious freedom, have all issued statements condemning the sentence.
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