Indian Citizens Appeal for the Release of Raif Badawi, a Saudi Blogger

By Dilip -
India: Citizens Appeal for the Release of Raif Badawi, a Saudi Blogger
See the letter of acknowledgement received from Raif Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar below, after the signatures

People’s Alliance for Secularism and Democracy
Date: 10 June 2015
To: The Ambassador, Embassy of Saudi Arabia at New Delhi,
2- Pachchimi Marg, VasantVihar,
New Delhi-110057
inemb@mofa.gov.sa
Fax: 00911126144244

Subject: APPEAL TO RELEASE RAIF BADAWI, A SAUDI BLOGGER

Dear Sir,
This is an appeal regarding Raif Badawi, a blogger and Saudi citizen, founder of the website ‘Free Saudi Liberals’. Mr Badawi has been under arrest since 2012 for insulting Islam and apostasy. He was sentenced to be punished with 10 years in prison along with 1000 lashes (50 lashes to be received on every Friday) and a fine of one million riyals. Though he was cleared of charges of apostasy in 2013, there are new reports that indicate he may be tried again under the same charge.

We are mindful that India and Saudi Arabia have long-standing friendly political and commercial relations and that large numbers of Indians live and work in your country. It is because of this that we feel constrained to convey to you our concerns. Raif Badawi is a public intellectual who communicated his thoughts to the public through a blog. We do not believe that any of its contents constituted a threat to the state. To the contrary, his advocacy for secularism and the separation of religion and state is a suggestion that would strengthen it.

Whether or not his ideas are pleasing to your government, the fact remains that as a member state of the United Nations, Saudi Arabia is presumed to be respectful of the freedom of speech that is provided for under Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. This article states: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers‘.

The sharing of information and ideas is a basic human practice and natural right that should be available to everyone regardless of their nationality or identity and (barring extremist incitement) should not be restricted by law. The state should protect and promote our rights instead of restricting them.

It has been reported that Raif Badawi received the first set of lashes on 9 January, after Friday prayers outside the Al-Juffali Mosque in Jeddah. The next round of punishment has been suspended on medical grounds to give his wounds time to heal prior to wounding him again. We consider this an example of barbaric cruelty, not befitting any member state of the UNO. Such practices are a travesty of justice and will bring you only disrepute.

We are Indian citizens who speak for human rights both within our own country and beyond. We are in solidarity with Raif Badawi and all those demanding freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia. We condemn the inhuman punishment being meted out to him as we condemn all measures that punish people for defending human rights and sharing their thoughts.

We ask that Saudi Arabia:
  • Immediately suspend the punishment of Raif Badawi,
  • Release Raif Badawi and provide him security,
  • Take measures towards the provision of full freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia
Submitted by:
Ravi Nitesh, Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism
Dipak Dholakia
Rajashri Dasgupta
Prithvi R Sharma
Rana P Behal
Shamsul Islam
Suman Keshari
Aseem Shrivastava
Viren Lobo
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya
Kashif Ahmed Faraz
R. Sasankan, Journalist, Delhi
Rohit Sharma, Pilani, India
Mandeep Singh from Revolutionary Youth Student Front
Firoz Ahmad, Public School Teacher
Chaman Lal
J.S.Bandukwala
Devika Mittal (Mission Bhartiyam)
Apoorvanand
Sudha Vasan
Dheeraj Gaba
Nawed Akhter
Dilip Simeon
Shabnam Hashmi
Rohini Hensman
Ovais Sultan Khan
Ram Puniyani
Vinerjeet Kaur
Kiran Shaheen
Battini Rao, Convener, Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)
Javed Anand
Harsh Kapoor
Subash Mohapatra, Global Human Rights Communications, Bhubaneswar
Sagar Rabari, Ahmedabad
Nayanjyoti
Shailendra Dhar, Journalist
Nihal Parashar
Linus Ayangwoh Embe
Peter Marshall
Sudarshan juyal
Dhruv Singhal (Political Science student)
Mohammad Imran, NRISAHI
Suresh Bhat
Prof. S Ratnagar, Mumbai
Ilma iqbal
Michael Karadjis
Vasantharajan, Research Scholar
Rabin Chakraborty
Shruti Arora
Hiren Gandhi
Anand Patwardhan
Dr. D. Gabriele
Mukul Mangalik
Neeraj Malik, academic
Suhas Borker
Virginia Saldanha, Mumbai
Kasim Sait
Waliullah Ahmed Laskar
Kaveri Rajaraman, University of Hyderabad
Parth Sarthu
Ram
Mahesh Elkunchwar
Suman Kumar
Kamayani Bali Mahabal
Syed Ghazanfar Abbas
Jawad Mohammed
Prof Anil Sadgopal, Shiksha Adhikar Manch, Bhopal 
Satya Pal, Secretary General - South Asian Fraternity
Those wishing to endorse the above appeal and add their names should use this form: 
http://goo.gl/forms/XfkXA7mb9k
http://sacw.net/article11274.html
see the original PDF version on PADS headed note paper
http://sacw.net/IMG/pdf/pads-letter10_june-badawi.pdf

Letter of acknowledgement received from Raif Badawi's wife

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ensaf Haidar
Date: Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 11:51 PM
Subject: Hello From Raif Badawi wife's!
To: battini.rao@gmail.com
Hello Dear Mr. Battini,
Really i want thanks you for helping and supporting my husband Raif Badawi, I am very happy to see Raif support in India! please tell my thanks and regards to all who signed this letter.

Also i heard that some people want start vigil for Raif’s front of Saudi embassy in New Delhi!

Best Regards From Canada.


Ensaf Haidar

Popular posts from this blog

Third degree torture used on Maruti workers: Rights body

By Dilip -
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights on Tuesday alleged that third degree torture methods were used by the Gurgaon Criminal Investigation Agency while interrogating workers of Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s Manesar plant who are accused of involvement in the killing of an HR manager and the violent attack at the plant on July 18. The PUDR alleged that the Gurgaon CIA investigation “did not seem” to be directed at solving the crime or probing the involvement of the arrested workers in the incidents and crimes recorded in the FIR but instead was based on their involvement in trade union activities. Grave doubts  “The use of third degree torture in police custody, and the securing of arrestees’ signatures on blank papers by the police, gives rise to grave doubts regarding the ability of such an investigation in effectively identifying or arresting those guilty. The police and the State seem keener to reassure Maruti Suzuki Ltd. and ensure that production continues,” the ...
Read more

Haruki Murakami: On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning

By Dilip -
According to Murakami, “1Q84” is just an amplification of one of his most popular short stories,   which (in its English version) is five pages long. “Basically, it’s the same,” he told me. “A boy meets a girl. They have separated and are looking for each other. It’s a simple story. I just made it long.” One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo's fashionable Harujuku neighborhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl. Tell you the truth, she's not that good-looking. She doesn't stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. She isn't young, either - must be near thirty, not even close to a "girl," properly speaking. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She's the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there's a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert..." read the story: http://www.youmightfindyourself.com/post/22131227...
Read more

Albert Camus's lecture 'The Human Crisis', New York, March 1946. 'No cause justifies the murder of innocents'

By Dilip -
The morning after a great historical crisis, you feel as sad and sick as after a heavy night. But there is no aspirin for historical hangovers .. The world is no longer divided into the just or unjust, but into masters and slaves. He who is right is he who enslaves.  Albert Camus     La crise de l'homme : THE HUMAN CRISIS   (Text read by Viggo Mortensen on March 28 2016)   Ladies and Gentlemen: when I was invited to give a series of lectures in the United States of America, I felt some doubt and hesitation. I am really not old enough to give lectures, and I am more at ease with the process of thinking than I am making categorical statements... since I don't feel I have any claim on what is generally called the truth. I shared this reservation and was very politely told that my personal opinion didn't matter. What mattered was that I'd be able to offer some facts about France so that my listeners could form their own opinions. It was then suggested...
Read more

The Almond Trees by Albert Camus (1940)

By Dilip -
Image
'Do you know', Napoleon once said to Fontanes, 'what astounds me most about the world?  The impotence of force to establish anything.  There are only two powers in the world: the sword and the mind.  In the end, the sword is always conquered by the mind' Conquerors, you see, are sometimes melancholy.  They have to pay some price for so much vainglory. But what a hundred years ago was true of the sword is no longer true today of the tank. Conquerors have made progress, and the dismal silence of places without intelligence has been established for years at a time in a lacerated Europe. At the time of the hideous wars of Flanders, Dutch painters could still perhaps paint the cockerels in their farmyards. The Hundred Years War has likewise been forgotten, and yet the prayers of Silesian mystics still linger in some hearts. But today, things have changed; the painter and the monk have been drafted - we are one with the world.  The mind has lost that regal certai...
Read more

Etel Adnan - To Be In A Time Of War

By Dilip -
NB: Etel Adnan, writer, poet, artist and musician was born in 1925 and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Her mother was a Greek from Smyrna, her father, a high ranking Ottoman officer born in Damascus. This prose poem is the final chapter of her book  In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country .  Read more about her here  - DS To Be In A Time Of War To say nothing, do nothing, mark time, to bend, to straighten up, to blame oneself, to stand, to go toward the window, to change one’s mind in the process, to return to one’s chair, to stand again, to go to the bathroom, to close the door, to then open the door, to go to the kitchen, to not eat nor drink, to return to the table, to be bored, to take a few steps on the rug, to come close to the chimney, to look at it, to find it dull, to turn left until the main door, to come back to the room, to hesitate, to go on, just a bit, a trifle, to stop, to pull the right side of the curtain, then the other side, ...
Read more

After the Truth Shower

By Dilip -
Dear Readers Thank you for reading my blog for the past eleven years. (This is a link to the new one) During this time it has had nearly 1.7 million hits; and I have posted over 9500 posts covering a variety of themes. From July 11 to 19, 2022, my blog was withdrawn by the Blogger administration on account of what its machinery suspected to be 'Impersonation'. It took over a week and the efforts of several well-wishers to get it back online I thank them all for their kindness and goodwill  My blog has always been - and remains - non-commercial. I have used it for academic purposes; and to foster a culture of debate and informed commentary in civil society. Because it contains a large amount of material gathered and collated for over a decade, I cannot afford to lose its contents. I hope it will remain undisturbed now and function as an archive. However, I have decided to use a new blog on WordPress as a platform for my newest comments and posts The new blog is titled After the...
Read more

James Gilligan on Shame, Guilt and Violence

By Dilip -
Shame, Guilt, and Violence / James Gilligan During the past 35 years I have used prisons and prison mental hospitals as "laboratories" in which to investigate the causes and prevention of the various forms of violence and the relationships between these forms and to what I will call (with a nod to William James) "the varieties of moral experience." In the course of that work, I have been struck by the frequency with which I received the same answer when I asked prisoners, or mental patients, why they assaulted or even killed someone. Time after time, they would reply "because he disrespected me" or "he disrespected my visitor [or wife, mother, sister, girl-friend, daughter, etc.]." In fact, they used that phrase so often that they abbreviated it into the slang phrase, "He dis'ed me." Whenever people use a word so often that they abbreviate it, it is clearly central to their moral and emotional vocabulary. But even when they did n...
Read more