Brussels, 30/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 29 October, several political groups hailed the fact that Saudi blogger Raif Badawi had won the Sakharov Prize 2015 (see EUROPE 11421) and they called for his release from prison.
“In awarding the Sakharov Prize to Raif Badawi, the European Parliament rightly recognises his role in promoting public debate in Saudi Arabia. We call on the Saudi authorities to take into serious consideration this strong signal from the European Parliament”, said co-chair of the Greens/EFA Group, Rebecca Harms (Germany). The other co-chair, Philippe Lamberts (Belgium), said that as well as recognising Badawi's fight “to promote political and social debate”, the award was “also a call for freedom of expression directly to the Saudi leaders” and a “clear signal” to the EU and its member states “to break the complicit silence on serious human rights violations and the repression at work in the country”. “The Parliament has sent a strong political and humanitarian message to the Saudi authorities” said the leader of the ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium). In the view of Marietje Schaake (ALDE, Netherlands), this prize “is recognition of Raif Badawi's courage and determination to speak freely”. “His repression symbolises the lack of respect for the human rights of all people in Saudi Arabia”, she added.
Badawi “is a world symbol of the freedom of speech”, said leader of the European Parliament's sub-committee on human rights, Elena Valenciano (S&D, Spain). In the view of Antonio Panzeri (S&D, Italy), the award of this prize “is an honour to all the people who fight for the freedom of expression worldwide because everyone should have the right to have an opinion, and to receive and share information and ideas without interference from the public authorities and without consideration of borders”. The leader of the ECR Group, Syed Kamall (UK), said he was “delighted” that Badawi had won because, in Kamall's view, the Sakharov Prize is an award for the freedom of thought and he could not “think of anyone more deserving than a man in prison for having encouraged open debate in a country where this is not tolerated”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)