Raif Badawi: 9 years in a Saudi prison
Despite international pressure and efforts to secure his release, this week marks the ninth anniversary of the Saudi dissident's arrest.
Raif Badawi's wife has been integral to efforts to try to free him
Things are not going well for Raif Badawi. The Saudi Arabian writer has been in prison in the Gulf state since June 2012, when he was arrested for what he wrote on a website that he founded called Free Saudi Liberals.
Badawi was charged with "insulting Islam" by promoting secularism on his blog. In 2014, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a $266,000 fine and 1,000 lashes. Despite a number of international campaigns to try and secure an earlier release, he may well remain in jail in Saudi Arabia until late February 2022. This would be the date of his release according to the Islamic calendar that was used to sentence him.