TRIBUNNEWS.COM – Raif Badawi is a blogger and human rights activist from Saudi Arabia who was born on January 13, 1984.
In 2002 she married Ensaf Haidar and had three children named Terad, Najwa, and Miriam.
Raif Badawi co-founded the Free Saudi Liberals website in 2008.
Badawi and his colleagues created the website to encourage debate on religious and political issues in Saudi Arabia despite the country’s limited civic space.
Quoted from pantheon.worldBadawi was arrested in 2012 on charges of “insulting Islam through electronic channels” and brought before the court on several charges, including apostasy.
Beginning with accusations of insulting Islam in 2008, continued through to a 2009 travel ban and asset freeze, culminating in a June 2012 arrest with a December 2012 trial on charges of insulting Islam.
Evidence for these allegations reportedly includes posts on Free Saudi Liberals criticizing Saudi religious authorities and asking theological questions.
A Saudi court initially also recommended charging Badawi with apostasy, a crime punishable by death, reportedly because he liked Saudi Christian Facebook pages and said that “Muslims, Jews, Christians and atheists are all the same.”
The judge dropped this charge after Badawi declared he was a Muslim and read out the declaration of Islamic faith.
In July 2013, a Saudi court sentenced Badawi to 600 lashes and 7 years in prison for insulting Islam and violating the law anti-cybercrime by setting up a liberal site.
