Badawi

Saudi Arabia has asked Canada's ambassador to leave the country within 24 hours, just two days after Canada criticized the arrest of women's rights and other civil society activists in the Arab kingdom.

The sister of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes, was arrested Jan. 12, Amnesty International said, calling it "damning proof" of the kingdom's human rights abuses.

The wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi on Dec. 16 accepted the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on his behalf, urging Arab countries to reject theocratic diktats and tolerate differing views.

A women's rights advocate from Saudi Arabia and an LGBTI rights group in Turkey have been given this year's International Hrant Dink Award - dedicated to the Armenian journalist murdered in 2007 - at a ceremony in Istanbul, the state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old Saudi blogger and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and flogged in public 50 times simply for blogging about free speech.

He has 950 more lashes, which have been postponed due to Badawi?s poor health.

Saudi Arabia's supreme court has upheld a sentence of 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes against blogger Raif Badawi on charges of insulting Islam, his wife said on June 7.

The judgment came despite worldwide outrage over his case and criticism from the United Nations, United States, the European Union, Canada and others.       

Saudi blogger Raef Badawi was flogged in public Jan. 9 near a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, receiving 50 lashes for "insulting Islam", witnesses said.
      
In September, a Saudi court upheld a sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for Badawi, and he is expected to have 20 weekly whipping sessions until his punishment is complete.