National

Politicians call on Ottawa to help secure release of Saudi blogger

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 13 Jan, 2015 10:52 AM

MONTREAL — Several politicians are calling on Ottawa and Quebec to help secure the freedom of a Saudi blogger who was flogged 50 times last week after being convicted of insulting Islam.

Raif Badawi's wife and children live in Quebec.

Representatives of the federal NDP, the Parti Quebecois and Quebec solidaire held a news conference in Montreal this morning urging Ottawa and Quebec to do more to help free Badawi.

Badawi was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes after he criticized Saudi Arabia's powerful clerics on a liberal blog he founded.

International Development Minister Christian Paradis was asked about Badawi at a news conference in Quebec City today and said the case is complicated because he is not a Canadian citizen.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Young B.C. Football Player Paralyzed From Neck Down By Enterovirus D68

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Within six days, Evan Mutrie went from being a football player for the Kamloops Broncos to being on life support, paralyzed from the neck down after contracting a rare virus.

Young B.C. Football Player Paralyzed From Neck Down By Enterovirus D68

RCMP Arrest Suspect In Shooting That Critically Injured B.C. Mountie

VICTORIA — A 36-year-old man who is known to police has been arrested by members of an emergency-response team in Kamloops, B.C., just hours after an RCMP officer was shot and critically wounded.

RCMP Arrest Suspect In Shooting That Critically Injured B.C. Mountie

Tests Confirm Avian Influenza Strain At B.C. Farms As H5N2

VANCOUVER — The type of avian influenza responsible for an outbreak at poultry farms in southwestern British Columbia is H5N2, a source has confirmed — the same virus behind at least three other previous outbreaks at Canadian farms.

Tests Confirm Avian Influenza Strain At B.C. Farms As H5N2

Kinder Morgan President Says Policing Costs Are Not Company's Responsibility

BURNABY, B.C. — The president of Kinder Morgan says his company isn't responsible for the policing bill related to pipeline protests at a Metro Vancouver conservation site.

Kinder Morgan President Says Policing Costs Are Not Company's Responsibility

Class-action Against Government 'Biggest Battle' Of His Life: Disabled War Vet

VANCOUVER — Major Mark Campbell was lying in a hospital bed, just starting to comprehend losing both his legs above the knees in a Taliban ambush, when he found out the federal government had stripped his lifetime military pension.

Class-action Against Government 'Biggest Battle' Of His Life: Disabled War Vet

Province introduces more flexibility to help people with disabilities earn better

VICTORIA – The Province is recognizing the unique circumstances of people with disabilities by making it easier for those receiving disability assistance to earn more money with annualized earnings exemptions.