Raif Badawi is the Saudi political prisoner, sentenced to ten years and a thousand lashes. His is one of the most famous, or infamous, cases in the world. He is a very brave man: a man who has sacrificed a lot for human rights and democracy.

His wife is Ensaf Haidar. She lives in exile, with their three children. They found asylum in Canada.

The Resistance Museum will be showing how political prisoners in Dachau Concentration Camp - including many resistance workers ? struggled to survive in a camp designed to dehumanise them. Even today, 70 years after the end of World War Two, all over the world people are still being imprisoned for their opinions or for their opposition to the powers that be. In cooperation with Amnesty International, the Resistance Museum has set aside space in the exhibition to highlight the plight of three people currently being detained: Raif Badawi (blogger from Saudi Arabia, condemned to 1,000 lashes with a cane as part of his sentence), Aster Fissehatsion (politician from Eritrea, imprisoned without charges or trial) and Liu Xia (poet and artist from China, under indefinite house arrest). Shows Shows Raif Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar.She is Jay’s guest on this “Q&A,” although she has someone speaking for her: Celine Boustani, a lawyer with the Human Rights Foundation. Ensaf does not speak English, and Celine has obtained answers from her, and conveys them to Jay and the rest of us.

Ensaf discusses her romance with Raif: a Romeo & Juliet story, complete with balcony scenes. And she discusses the awful events that have happened since.

She is a remarkable woman, who is doing what Avital Sharansky and others have done before her: fighting for a heroic husband in prison.

Support Our Sponsors!

mzl.zlixsgsvFor a limited time The Great Courses Plus is offering Q and A, hosted by Jay Nordlinger listeners a chance to stream this course: Understanding Investments – a $215 value -and hundreds of other courses for FREE!
Go to thegreatcoursesplus.com/QA

Subscribe to Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing.

There is 1 comment.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Kim K. Inactive
    Kim K.
    @KimK

    Great Q&A.

    • #1
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.