Amnesty says flogging of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi postponed until next week

MONTREAL — The scheduled flogging of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi on Friday was postponed for medical reasons, says a spokeswoman for Amnesty International Canada.

Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for a blog criticizing Saudi Arabia's clerics.

The first 50 lashes were delivered last week and he was expected to receive 50 more every week.

"We know that at the time of the first flogging session, he saw a doctor beforehand,'' Amnesty spokeswoman Mireille Elchacar told The Canadian Press.

''It may seem strange and, indeed it is, but it was to ensure he was in good enough physical shape to receive the lashes."

Amnesty said it spoke earlier this week with Badawi, who told the organization he would be unable to withstand another 50 lashes.

A medical checkup revealed his wounds had not healed sufficiently and a doctor suggested the second round of flogging be postponed until next week, Amnesty said.

"We obviously could have expected he wouldn't recover in a week from 50 blows from a stick and a whip, that's obvious," said Elchacar, adding that Saudi authorities confirmed Badawi's next flogging was pushed back to next week.

Badawi is not a Canadian citizen but his wife fled Saudi Arabia in 2012 with their son and two daughters before settling in Sherbrooke, Que., in 2013.

"The notion that Raif Badawi must be allowed to heal so that he can suffer this cruel punishment again and again is macabre and outrageous,'' Said Boumedouha, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.

''Flogging should not be carried out under any circumstances."

The postponement came as NDP Leader Tom Mulcair called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to speak out in Badawi's case.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said this week Canada has expressed its opposition to the punishment to Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Ottawa.

Mulcair's letter to Harper urged the prime minister to step in and call for Badawi's immediate release.

"Canada must make every effort to guarantee his release, allow him to return home to his family, and to prevent him from being subjected to this horrible punishment simply for having expressed his opinion."

Vigils in support of Badawi have been held in several cities across Quebec and in about 20 countries worldwide.