Help free Raif Badawi

UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
British Embassy, PO Box 94351
11693
Riyadh
Saudi Arabia

Dear Ambassador,

Welcome to your new role and congratulations on your appointment.

I am sure you are aware of the case of Raif Badawi who was sentenced in Saudi Arabia to 10 years and 1,000 lashes for running an online forum. Amnesty International believes Raif is a Prisoner of Conscience. He has done nothing criminal, yet he is facing this barbaric punishment simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

Over 100,000 people in the UK have signed Amnesty International’s petition calling on the Saudi Arabian authorities to stop the lashing of Raif Badawi and release him immediately.

I urge the UK Government to use its influence and raise concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities about Raif Badawi’s situation.

I call on you specifically to:

• Prioritise Raif’s case in all meetings with the Saudi Authorities

• Meet with the minister responsible in the Saudi Arabian government and request permission to visit Raif in prison.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Aidan McQuade

Emailed to ukemb@mofa.gov.sa

Your Excellency

Raif Badawi

I am writing to express my dismay at the protracted torture and imprisonment of Raif Badawi by the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

At a time when the world has been appalled by the massacres in Paris the world sees that violence echoed by the Saudi state in its treatment of Raif Badawi.

That Raif Badawi is being tortured and imprisoned by the Saudi state in such a brutal and medieval fashion for attempting to exercise free speech shocks the world. Further it undermines the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s claims as a bulwark against “Islamic State”, as the world begins to see little distinction between the violence of the two.

The immediate ending of Raif Badawi’s flogging and his release back to his family will begin to repair some of the damage that has been done to the international reputation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I respectfully request that you convey to your government this request, in the name of human rights, for the ending of the torture of Raif Badawi and his release.

Yours faithfully

Dr Aidan McQuade