Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian blogger and honourary citizen of Sherbrooke, Quebec, remains in a Saudi Arabian jail sentenced to a 1000 lashes.
Today, at Friendly Atheist, who keeps his eye on Canadian news, alerted us to this announcement:
On Friday, [Badawi’s] wife Ensaf Haidar announced the formation of the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom, an organization promoting freedom of expression worldwide and supporting journalists in the Arab world.
In the the PR Newswire press release, Evelyne Abitbol, the Executive Director of the Foundation appeals to the leaders of Canada’s federal political parties:
“Today, I am asking Justin Trudeau, Thomas Mulcair, Gilles Duceppe, Stephen Harper and Elizabeth May to take a stand for the rights of bloggers and journalists imprisoned simply for doing their job. I invite them to commit clearly in favour of the freedom of press and to put forward concrete measures for the release of the blogger Raif Badawi.”
Visit the website to donate and to find out about working with or helping The Raif Badawi Foundation.