MONTREAL — Dozens of protesters rallied in Montreal Tuesday to denounce the treatment of a blogger imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, calling on Canada to do more to help him.
Raif Badawi was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of one million Saudi Arabian riyals (about $315,000) after he criticized Saudi Arabia’s powerful clerics on a liberal blog he founded.
READ MORE: Witness: Saudi blogger convicted of insulting Islam publicly flogged 50 times
Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, moved to Quebec in November 2013 with their three children, after fleeing from Saudi Arabia to Egypt in April 2012 with their two daughters, Najwa and Miryam, and son, Tirad.
Haidar was present at the rally on Tuesday. She held a sign with a picture of her husband and the words “#FreeRaif.”
Earlier in the day, politicians were calling on Ottawa and Quebec to help secure Badawi’s freedom, who was flogged 50 times last week after being convicted of insulting Islam.
Representatives of the federal NDP, the Parti Québécois, Québec Solidaire and Amnesty International held a news conference in Montreal this morning urging Ottawa and Quebec to do more to help free Badawi.
“When it comes to Saudi Arabia, which is a hotbed for fanaticism, a hotbed for Islamic extremism, a hotbed for international jihad, the Canadian government is silent … and insensitive to the plight of people like Raif Badawi,” said Amir Khadir, a MNA for Québec Solidaire.
“Canadian people cannot accept this double standard.”
International Development Minister Christian Paradis was asked about Badawi at a news conference in Quebec City on Tuesday and said the case is complicated because he is not a Canadian citizen.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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