2015 prison census - Saudi Arabia: Raif Badawi

Badawi, a blogger and the founder of an online discussion forum, was arrested by Saudi security forces in Jeddah on June 17, 2012, according to news reports. In July 2013, he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment and 600 lashes on charges of defamation of religion. The sentence was increased on appeal in May 2014 to 10 years' imprisonment, 1,000 lashes, a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals (approximately US$267,000), and a 10-year ban on travel and media activity to begin after his release.

The status of the case at the Saudi Supreme Court at the end of 2015 is unclear. On June 7, 2015, news reports said the court had upheld Badawi's sentence. But in August, Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haider, said that an official at the Saudi Ministry of Justice informed her that the court was reviewing the case again.

In January 2015, 50 of the 1,000 lashes had been carried out in one public session, but no additional sessions had taken place as of late 2015.

The charges stemmed from Badawi's long support for free discussion of liberal values in Saudi Arabia, a country founded upon a strict interpretation of Islam. In 2006, Badawi founded an online discussion forum called "Saudi Liberals." By 2008, the forum had grown to more than 1,000 registered members who regularly discussed religion and politics.

In March 2008, Badawi was temporarily detained and his website shut down; two months later, he fled the country, according to Human Rights Watch. But later that year, Badawi returned after prosecutors decided to not pursue charges.

In late 2008, Badawi and his partners upgraded the online forum and called it the Free Saudi Liberal Network, which garnered tens of thousands of registered members posting about religion and politics.

As influence of the forum grew, so did Badawi's presence in other media. He began writing columns for local websites including Al-Jazirah and Al-Bilad about the principles of secular, liberal thought and how to apply it to a Saudi context. In one article published in August 2010 for Al-Hewar al-Mutamaddin, an Arabic website for secular commentary, Badawi wrote "Freedom of expression is the air a thinker breathes, just as it is the fuel that lights the fire of his ideas." In one of the last articles for Al-Jazirah before his arrest, Badawi called on his readers not to blindly follow the Western model but to adopt the features of Saudi identity that are consistent with the "fundamental principles of liberalism."

According to English translations of court documents provided to CPJ by his family, Badawi received five years in prison for establishing the discussion forum and another five years for a series of Facebook posts the court deemed blasphemous. Only one of the discussion forum posts cited by the court was written by Badawi personally, according to the court documents.

CPJ did not previously include Badawi in its annual prison census, despite his arrest in 2012. As his case garnered increasing international attention, CPJ re-evaluated its decision in 2015. CPJ found that although Badawi's prosecution focused on the establishment of a discussion forum, his sentence was partially in retribution for his writing, which crossed many government red lines on religion and politics. In addition, the establishment of the online discussion forum filled a void in the public sphere where journalists would normally operate but are unable to under Saudi censorship.