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Taroudant – Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger who was arrested in 2012 for several charges, including apostasy, is among the nominees for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Edward Snowden and Pope Francis.
Sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting” Islam, Raif Badawi was nominated along with his fellow citizen, lawyer and human rights activist, Walid Aboul Khair, who is also imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.
In an open letter addressed to Jean-Lou Chameau, the president of the King Abudllah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, a group of 18 Nobel laureates called on their Saudi peers to show solidarity with Raif Badawi.
“We write out of concern that the fabric of international cooperation may be torn apart by dismay at the severe restrictions on freedom of thought and expression still being applied to Saudi Arabian society,” they said.
The Norwegian Nobel Institute does not publish names of nominees, but those entitled to nominate a candidate – parliamentarians and ministers, past winners and some university professors – may publicly announce the identity of their nominee.
