OTTAWA — Opposition parties want Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird to publicly denounce the flogging of a Saudi blogger who was lashed 50 times last week after being convicted of insulting Islam.
Raif Badawi was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes after he criticized Saudi Arabia's clerics on a liberal blog he founded.
The first 50 lashes were delivered last Friday and Badawi, whose wife and children have since come to Canada, is expected to receive another 50 a week for 19 more weeks.
Paul Dewar and Marc Garneau, the foreign affairs critics of the NDP and Liberals, say it's time for Baird to publicly condemn Saudi Arabia, a Canadian ally.
They say it's not enough that Canada's religious freedom ambassador and development minister have spoken out.
Baird is travelling in Egypt where he is to press for the release of an imprisoned Egyptian-Canadian journalist.
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