[7] Ensaf Haidar has given a series of televised interviews about Badawi’s plight, including at the 2016 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.

[11] Al Jazeera quoted an anonymous interior ministry official as saying on March 12, "the sentence handed down to Raif was 10 years in prison followed by a travel ban for the same length of time.

Badawi attended school until the age of thirteen when his father reported him for parental disobedience, a crime in Saudi Arabia, and spent six months in a teenage detention centre: subsequent bullying, Wahhabi indoctrination, and flogging caused him to be scarred deeply.

He was influenced by numerous books by Arab authors who refused to view the world from a purely religious standpoint, including The Universe Judges God by Abdullah al-Qasemi, Arab Culture in the Age of Globalization by Turki al-Hamad, and Prisoner 32 by Mohammed Saeed Tayeb, an author whom Raif admires deeply and who had taken him under his wing.

[citation needed] Additionally he was influenced by Diwaniya, a traditional evening meeting of journalists, poets, thinkers, philosophers, and authors who all shared and discussed the dream of a more open, tolerant, secular, and liberal society in Saudi Arabia.

Badawi's blog made headlines soon after it went online, as it was a space where Saudis could openly speak about liberalism in a conservative country where the king was known as the custodian of the two holiest sites of Islam, Mecca and Medina.

Unsatisfied by the interrogation, the religious police made a surprise raid at Badawi's home a few days later to search for forbidden books, but left with nothing.

On 17 June 2012, he was arrested on a charge of "insulting Islam through electronic channels",[2] and the following December he was also cited for apostasy, a conviction which carries an automatic death sentence.

"[16] Following the 2012 arrest, Amnesty International designated Badawi a prisoner of conscience, "detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression", and said: "Even in Saudi Arabia where state repression is rife, it is beyond the pale to seek the death penalty for an activist whose only 'crime' was to enable social debate online".

Charged with "setting up a website that undermines general security", "ridiculing Islamic religious figures", and "going beyond the realm of obedience", Badawi appeared before a district court in Jeddah on 17 December 2012.

[19] On 30 July 2013, Saudi media reported that Badawi had been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an Internet forum that "violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought".

[20] On 26 December 2013, Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar told CNN a judge had ruled that her husband should go before a high court for the apostasy charge which would result in a death penalty if convicted.

[24][25][26] On 1 March 2015, Badawi's wife told reporters that judges in Saudi Arabia's criminal court wanted to retry him for apostasy, and that if found guilty he would be sentenced to death.

[29] On 27 January 2015, Canadian politician Marc Garneau announced in an opinion piece that he and his political colleague Irwin Cotler would "[assist] Badawi's wife in her efforts to save her husband.

The Specialized Criminal Court in Jeddah found him guilty of "undermining the regime and officials", "inciting public opinion", and "insulting the judiciary".

By ignoring international calls to cancel the flogging, Saudi Arabia’s authorities have demonstrated an abhorrent disregard for the most basic human rights principles.

"[37] Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad of Jordan said: "Such punishment is prohibited under international human rights law, in particular the convention against torture, which Saudi Arabia has ratified.

I appeal to the king of Saudi Arabia to exercise his power to halt the public flogging by pardoning Mr Badawi, and to urgently review this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty".

[38] Sebastian Usher, Middle East analyst for the BBC said he suspected that Saudi leaders had been unprepared for the scale of international protest in response to the flogging.

[55] In Québec, where Badawi's family now live as refugees, and where his situation is seen as symbolic of the worldwide struggle for free speech, the public have taken up his case and protests in Sherbrooke and elsewhere are regular.

[59] Sixty-seven members of the United States Congress sent a bipartisan letter to the King of Saudi Arabia on 3 March 2015, calling for the release of all prisoners of conscience, including Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu Al-Khair.

[60][61] The same day, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent a letter to King Salman in support of Badawi, saying "We are all members of faiths that underscore mercy and forgiveness.

"[62] On 6 March, a group of Northern Ireland trade union leaders including journalists Eamonn McCann and Felicity McCall published an open letter in the Belfast Telegraph condemning the "barbaric punishment" of Raif Badawi and calling for his release,[63] and German journalist Constantin Schreiber announced that Badawi's first book would be published in April.

[62][64] In early March 2015, Ensaf Haidar petitioned Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs, to use his influence to free Badawi during an upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia.

"[68] The Saudi Arabian government responded by rejecting criticism of its human rights record and asserting that "it does not accept interference in any form in its internal affairs.

"[69] Sweden's foreign minister, Margot Wallström, has spoken publicly about Badawi's case and other Saudi Arabian human rights issues.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia blocked Wallström's speech at an Arab League meeting in Cairo to which she had been invited as an honorary guest.

[71] German news magazine Der Spiegel reported in March[72] that Badawi had written from prison that he "miraculously survived 50 lashes [...] [while he was] surrounded by a cheering crowd who cried incessantly 'Allahu Akbar' ('God is greatest')".

[82] The Independent reported in October 2016 that sources close to Badawi's family feared flogging could restart imminently, at any time during the year.

[11] With the support of the Giordano Bruno Foundation and other organizations, a GoFundMe campaign was created to help Badawi's family raise funds to cover the fines imposed on him prior to his release.