World, Saudi Arabia, Raif Badawi, is counting on you: Help free him‏ ~ CookingFood.Org

Raif is counting on you: Help free him

Dear Luc,

Saudi authorities have delayed lashing blogger Raif Badawi for the past five weeks.

But he's still in serious danger. Any day, Raif could face another 50 lashes as part of a brutal sentence of 10 years and 1,000 lashes he received for publishing a website that encourages social and political debate.

Amnesty is waging an all-out campaign to release Raif and stop the floggings. Please support our efforts to free Prisoners of Conscience like Raif. Donate now.

Your support makes a difference:

$30 can help Amnesty deploy 1,500 signatures from activists to the Saudi embassy.
$75 can sponsor our next action outside the Saudi Embassy in D.C.
$250 can sponsor a human rights expert to continue applying "grasstops" pressure on Saudi authorities.

Our window of time to act is critical. More floggings could cause debilitating long-term physical and mental damage.

A doctor that Amnesty consulted said the second flogging is likely to be worse than the first: Dr. Juliet Cohen, head of doctors for the organization Freedom from Torture, described the physical and psychological damage that flogging will have on Raif.

In a report commissioned by Amnesty, she wrote, "The more blows are inflicted on top of one another, the more chance of open wounds being caused. This is important because they are likely to be more painful and at risk of infection."

Raif is scheduled to be flogged another 950 times over the next 19 weeks. Please help stop it and see that he is released. Support Amnesty's efforts.

With hope for justice,

Jasmine Heiss
Senior Campaigner, Individuals at Risk
Amnesty International USA