BRUSSELS (AP) – A Saudi blogger sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Muslim clerics has won the European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for human rights.
Raif Badawi was honored with the award as a symbol of the fight for freedom of speech – an announcement greeted with a standing ovation Thursday at the European Parliament assembly in Strasbourg, France.
“I urge the king of Saudi Arabia to free him, so he can accept the prize,” Parliament President Martin Schulz said.
Schulz described Badawi as “an extremely good man, an exemplary man who has had imposed on him one of the most gruesome penalties that exist in this country, which can only be described as brutal torture.”
Badawi is serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted of insulting Islam and breaking Saudi Arabia’s technology laws with his liberal blog. He also was sentenced to 1,000 lashes, spread over 20 installments, and fined $266,000. The flogging has been suspended since he received 50 lashes in January, a punishment that sparked international outrage.