Samar Badawi Archives

Ottawa had called for release of jailed civil rights activists Raif and Samar Badawi

Saudi Arabia will suspend new trade and investment with Ottawa after Canada’s foreign ministry urged Riyadh to release arrested civil rights activists, it said in a statement released to the official Saudi Press Agency on Sunday.

It also gave the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to leave the country and recalled its own ambassador to Canada, the statement by the Saudi foreign ministry said. Saudi Arabia is one of Canada’s largest export markets in the region.

“The [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] reserves its right to take further action,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement posted in a series of tweets.

“Any other attempt to interfere with our internal affairs from Canada, means that we are allowed to interfere in Canada’s internal affairs.”

The Saudi ministry had been briefed that the Canadian foreign ministry and the Canadian embassy urged the Saudi authorities to “immediately release” the civil rights activists, the statement said.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was “very alarmed” by the news of Samar Badawi’s arrest, the sister of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi. Freeland called on Saudi Arabia to release both.

Samar Badawi is a prominent women’s rights advocate, and her brother Raif has been in a Saudi jail since 2012 for his criticism of the regime and was lashed 50 times in 2015.

Ensaf Haidar, the Canadian wife of Raif Badawi, told CBC News on Sunday that she was taken by surprise by the news that Saudi Arabia is taking measures against Canada in retaliation for its support of jailed activists.

Haidar said she will continue to fight for her husband.

Receiving International Hrant Dink Award last year, Saudi human rights defender Samar Badawi was arrested yesterday. Today, she released on bail.

According to Amnesty International’s report, Samar Badawi was arrested in the morning on 12 January in Jeddah and transferred along with her two-year-old daughter Joud to a police station.

Amnesty International released a statement on Badawi’s arrestment:

“After four hours of questioning, she was transferred to Dhabhan prison and is due to appear before a prosecutor tomorrow. She is believed to have been arrested at least partly in connection with her alleged role in managing a Twitter account campaigning for the release of her former husband, the imprisoned human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair.

“Just weeks after Saudi Arabia shocked the world by executing 47 people in a single day, including the Shi’a Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, it has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for human rights. Samar Badawi has been arrested purely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression, she must be immediately and unconditionally released.

“In December 2014 the Ministry of Interior issued a travel ban on Samar Badawito prevent her from travelling to Brussels for a human rights event.

“Samar Badawi’s former husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair, is serving a 15-year prison sentence also in connection with his work protecting and defending human rights in Saudi Arabia. Hundreds of thousands of Amnesty International’s supporters campaigned for his release during its December 2015 Write for Rights Campaign.

“She is also the sister of the imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website for public debate. He received the first 50 lashes just over a year ago. They are both prisoners of conscience who must be immediately and unconditionally released.”

Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, also spoke about this issue: “Samar Badawi’s arrest today is yet another alarming setback for human rights in Saudi Arabia and demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission.”

Badawi received Hrant Dink Award in 2015 due to her reactions against the human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.