Jun 11, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) wrote to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to urge him to pardon Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair. 

“Mr. Badawi is being unjustly held in a Saudi prison for nothing more than peacefully expressing on-line his internationally guaranteed rights to the freedoms of conscience and expression. Also imprisoned is his lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, who is serving a 15-year sentence on trumped-up charges related to his work as a human rights defender.  Their imprisonment and the fifty lashes Mr. Badawi already has received from his sentence of 1,000 lashes constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and are contrary to international human rights standards,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.

View USCIRF Letter to Saudi King Salman Requesting the Pardon of Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.