Wife of Saudi Blogger Sentenced to 1,000 Lashes Comes to the U.S. to Fight for His Release 

The lashes are to be administered with a large wooden cane in public. A witness told the Associated Press that Badawi underwent the first 50 lashes this January in a public square in Jiddah, his hands and feet shackled as he was beaten on the back. His pain, the witness told the AP, was evident.

Badawi is a small-framed man who suffers from diabetes and hypertension. Amnesty International learned that the next 50 lashes, due to be delivered the following week, were postponed after a doctor examined him and concluded that his wounds hadn’t healed, and that he wouldn’t be able to withstand another beating.

The floggings were postponed then, and then again as the Saudi Supreme Court reviewed Badawi’s case. But in June, the court upheld the judgment against him. The only way his sentence could be overturned is by a pardon from King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

Saudia Arabia is a close ally of the United States, and the Obama administration has, so far, issued fairly mild condemnation of Badawi’s treatment. (And that allyship may also be why our government has said little as Saudia Arabia executed dozens of people in the last year, many of them for nonviolent crimes like drug smuggling and “sorcery.” Homosexuality is also still a crime, punishable by flogging and, in some cases, execution.)

In January, a State Department spokesperson called the Badawi flogging “inhumane” and said Badawi’s case should be reviewed. But President Obama has yet to directly call on King Salman to pardon the man.

This week, Haidar traveled to Washington to meet with members of Congress, trying to drum up even more support for her husband. It’s already considerable: 60 members of Congress sent a letter to King Salman in March asking for Badawi and other prisoners of conscience to be released, and the New York Times editorial board called for clemency for him in June.

But without the direct and open support from the U.S. State Department and President Obama, Congress’s calls for mercy will likely go ignored. Amnesty International said Haidar was set to meet with State Department officials Friday; there’s no word yet how that meeting went.

As Haidar waits for news on whether Badawi’s floggings will resume, she also struggles with what to tell their children; they know “only what their age allows them to” about his situation, she says. Badawi is able to call her once or twice a week. They can only talk for about 10 minutes each time.

Speaking to members of Congress, Haidar said, gave her “special hope.” She wants the Obama Administration to specifically ask that Badawi be freed and allowed to leave the country to join her and the children; Canada has already said he will be granted asylum.

“She wishes Obama would personally speak to the king,” the translator said.

There’s been some speculation that the fight against the Islamic State plays a role in the Obama Administration’s silence. Saudia Arabia is part of a U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and has participated in air strikes against the terrorist group.

But Haider rejects that advocating for her husband would somehow endanger the U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship.

“It just doesn’t make sense that his case would be impacted by these negotiations,” she says. “His place is not in prison. His place is outside, regardless of what the political scene is. He was a peaceful person.”

Both the fear of future floggings and the prospect of her husband being in prison for ten years have “the same weight on her shoulders,” the translator told me.

“Her hope does not end,” she added. “Her belief in his case. Sometimes if he doesn’t call her, she thinks he’s going to surprise her and show up at her doorstep.”

Ensaf Haidar, pictured in Berlin, May 21, 2015. Photo via Getty Images