The wife of jailed Saudi journalist Raif Badawi is seeking a meeting with President Trump when she visits Washington next week after hearing repeatedly that only Trump can win his release.
Ensaf Haidar’s request comes two months after Trump announced he would not punish Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder last year of another Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
But Haider, who lives in Canada with the couple’s three children, said she remains hopeful, with her supporters arguing Trump has an opportunity to do something positive in light of Khashoggi’s murder.
“While it is too late for Jamal Khashogghi, this brave citizen-journalist may yet still be saved. One phone call from the White House can free Raif,” said Brandon Silver, director of policy and projects at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
Haidar is visiting Washington to meet with lawmakers, including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who have advocated for her husband. In December, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning the crown prince for ordering Khashoggi’s murder and also condemning Badawi’s detention.
A source with knowledge of the visit told the Washington Examiner that multiple senators and senior Republicans have pressed the White House for a meeting.
Another source said that Rubio’s office previously helped deliver a letter from Haidar to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser.
White House spokespeople did not say if Haidar is likely to have a meeting with Trump during her three-day visit, which will begin Monday and end Wednesday.
Badawi was arrested in 2012 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam through electronic channels” and “going beyond the realm of obedience.” He had criticized powerful clerics as editor of news and commentary website Free Saudi Liberals.
“Courageous voices standing up for democratic values in the Muslim world must be defended,” Haidar told the Washington Examiner. “Raif is a Muslim and an ardent defender of the values of freedom and democracy, in a part of the world where the support of such things is a punishable offense.”
Haidar said Badawi, whose lashes were suspended in 2015 after he received 50, did nothing wrong, but that efforts in other Western countries haven’t succeeded in winning his freedom.
“I heard from many European and international officials that only the U.S. president has the power to bring my hero husband back home,” Haidar said.
In a direct appeal to Trump, she said: “President Trump, Raif believes in a free and safe world where men and women can express their ideas without fear of repression, a world which needs freedom of speech, expression, thoughts and ideas … When you were elected president by the American people, you became the hope for many of those who are denied liberties and rights around the world. Raif Badawi, my husband, is one of them.”
In August, a diplomatic crisis erupted when Canada’s foreign ministry demanded the release of Badawi and his sister, who had recently been detained. In what was widely interpreted as a warning from the crown prince to other would-be critics of Saudi Arabia, the kingdom expelled Canada’s ambassador and ordered a wholesale economic withdrawal from Canada.
The Saudi government has been highly sensitive to criticism about the case. An attorney who represented Badawi, Waleed Abu al-Khair, received 15 years in prison for crimes that included “antagonizing international organizations against the kingdom” and “’incitement of public opinion against authorities.”
Haidar, who speaks Arabic and French, communicated with the Washington Examiner with the help of a friend. She will be accompanied to Washington by Irwin Cotler, an emeritus law professor at McGill University and former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada.
Trump said in the Oval Office last year that he was unaware of Badawi’s case.
“When you say release the journalist, who are you talking about?” Trump asked. When told, he said, “That I’d have to look into. I’m not familiar with that.”
