Raif Badawi’s blogs published

A collection of Saudi Arabian Raif Badawi’s blogs, entitled “1,000 Lashes for Saying What I Think”, has been published by the German Ullstein publishing house, writes Christa Pongratz Lippitt. Badawi dictated the preface to his wife, Ensaf Badawi, in stages on the telephone, and German lawyer Constantin Schreiber, who is fluent in Arabic, translated what Badawi told his wife into German. Badawi, who founded the Free Saudi Liberals website, was arrested in 2012 for alleged offences against Islam and sentenced to 10 years in jail, and 1,000 lashes. Excerpts from the book show Badawi as a courageous champion of religious freedom: “Respect for people’s religious convictions, their decisions and their inherent right of freedom of belief demand a certain magnanimity of us [Saudis]. How would it be if for once we tried to do what others do – to build up a humane civilisation and a normal relationship to [the world’s] 6 billion people?” he asks.