The wife of a Saudi blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes ‘for insulting Islam’ today accused the government of killing her husband week by week - and spoke of her agony at ‘watching him die one lash at a time’.
Raif Badawi, who wrote a blog on human rights and social change, is being flogged 50 times every Friday for supposedly insulting religious figures and undermining the regime - a charge he and his wife Ensaf Haidar strenuously deny.
The first 50 of the lashes were inflicted in front of hundreds in the main square in Jeddah last week - and the same is due to happen again today, and for the next 18 weeks, until all 1,000 have been completed.
It is believed Raif, a 31-year-old father of three, will need hospital attention after each flogging; it has been suggested his body will not be able to sustain the assault over the coming weeks.
For Ensaf, almost 6,000 miles away in Quebec, it is too much to bear.
Speaking to the MailOnline, she said: ‘Saudi Arabia is endangering his health and life – if they go through with the whole 1,000 lashes, they are killing him more every week.
'It is a criminal act.’
Ensaf and the couple's three children, Najwa, 11, Terad, 10, and Miriam, seven, have been living in a small town in Canada since November 2011.
They fled Saudi Arabia when Raif was arrested, spending two years living in Lebanon before being granted refugee status.
It means - although they are safe - none of them have seen Raif for more than four years and, since he was moved to a new prison two-and-a-half weeks ago, no one has spoken to him either.
However, Ensaf, 35, did have friends in the square last Friday - including Raif's sister.
'She unfortunately witnessed the flogging,' Ensaf said. 'She was there to try and support her brother.
'He was very strong - he was silent during the flogging.'
But the advent of technology means Ensaf has also been able to see what happened to her husband.
Shocking footage of Raif being whipped in the square is available online, filmed secretly.
Just as those present reported, Raif stands strong, and quietly, while two guards dole out the punishment, and the crowds jeer.
Ensaf is still shocked it has come to this: she knew her husband wrote a blog called Free Saudi Liberals, but never thought it would draw the attentions of the authorities like it did.
He was arrested in June 2012 - although it had been expected for a while, as the government had blocked his bank accounts and banned him from leaving the country in 2009.
At first, he was accused of apostasy - or renouncing Islam, a charge which, if found guilty, would have meant beheading.
But it was thrown out by Sadi Arabia's high court, and Raif was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes after being found guilty by an anti-terrorism court of 'undermining the regime and officials,' ''inciting public opinion' and 'insulting the judiciary'.
It was upped to 10 years and 1,000 lashes after he appealed the sentence.
‘I was surprised, because I never thought it would go this far,' Ensaf said.
'What he is has been accused of is not true. He did not insult the religion and Islam or any member of the government.
'The blog was only about social change and human rights.
‘He did not do anything wrong - he is a prisoner of conscience.’
Yet on Thursday the Saudi government confirmed this week's flogging would go ahead in the Jeddah square, which has earned the grisly nickname 'Chop Chop Square' as the site of executions.
In all the time of Raif's imprisonment, Ensaf worked to shield her children from the reality of her husband's situation. But when they knew the floggings were due to go ahead, she realised she would have to tell them.
'They only knew their daddy was in prison, they didn't know he was sentenced to flogging,' she said.
'The school and I decided that we had to tell the kids - without going into detail.
‘I wish I didn’t have to tell them. They cried and don’t understand.
'They are not normal kids anymore.’
But Ensaf, who married Raif in 2002, still hopes international pressure will make the Saudi government stop the punishment.
Raif has many supporters in the international community, including the backing of Amnesty International - one of the first groups Ensaf contacted when she arrived in Canada.
'This case has so many violations of human rights,' said Amnesty's Mireille Elchacar, who has become a close friend of Ensaf over the past two years.
'He is a prisoner of conscience. It is a question of freedom of speech.'
Amnesty around the world is calling on governments to intervene on behalf of Raif, and the other victims of torture in Saudi Arabia.
'Saudi Arabia is a country which uses torture in a systematic way. It is unfortunately a champion of the death penalty,' said Mireille, who also noted the irony of Saudi sending a representative to the Charlie Hebdo march in support of freedom of speech.
Ensaf is now learning French and settling into her new country. It is, she says, 'impossible' to ever return to Saudi Arabia.
‘They are acting in a criminal way, and I cannot have respect for a country which does not respect freedom of speech.’
And she is clinging onto the belief her husband will one day join her in Canada.
‘I will see him again, for sure, for sure, for sure. I will never give up hope and I am sure Saudi Arabia will stop what they are doing and release him,’ she said.
Find out what you can do to help Raif and his family by visiting Amnesty UK's website.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2912014/Saudi-blogger-Raif-Badawi-wife-Ensaf-Haidar-says-lash.html#ixzz3OwhKyDXb
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