Ottawa (AFP)
The elected representatives of the Canadian Parliament unanimously approved a motion on Wednesday asking the government to grant Canadian nationality to Saudi blogger Raef Badaoui, imprisoned since 2012 and whose wife and three children live in Canada.
The motion passed by the House of Commons asks the Minister of Immigration, Marco Mendicino, to use his "discretionary power" to grant Canadian citizenship to Raef Badaoui, in accordance with the law "in order to remedy a particular situation and unusual distress ".
Saudi citizen Raef Badaoui has been imprisoned since 2012 for comments posted on his blog.
He was sentenced in November 2014 to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam".
He had received 50 lashes in January 2015 but the other sessions, which were to be weekly, had been suspended after a wave of protests around the world.
A fierce defender of freedom of expression, Raef Badaoui had asked on his website for the end of religious influence in the Saudi kingdom, ruled by Wahhabism, a rigorous version of Islam.
"Now that this is a formal request from the House, Justin Trudeau and Minister Marco Mendicino must act," said Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois (independence), promoter of the text after the vote.
"Every day counts" for Raef Badaoui, "while his health in prison is constantly in danger," he said in a statement.
Relations between Ottawa and Riyadh deteriorated in the summer of 2018 after a call from the Canadian government for the release of Saudi human rights activists, including Samar Badaoui, sister of Raef Badaoui.
Raef Badaoui's wife and three children, who live in Quebec, have received Canadian citizenship.
© 2021 AFP