Back Badawi or lose face - laureates

18 Nobel Laureates urge their Saudi peers to be "heard arguing for the freedom to dissent" by standing up for Badawi. Photo / Thinkstock

Nobel winners say Saudi peers risk loss of credibility if blogger’s plight unchallenged

The international outcry over restrictions on freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia escalated as an array of Nobel prizewinners published an open letter calling on the country's academics to condemn the public flogging of the blogger Raif Badawi.

In their letter the 18 Nobel Laureates urge their Saudi peers to be "heard arguing for the freedom to dissent" by standing up for Badawi, whose case they say has "sent a shock around the world".

They also hint that if the country's academics are unable to stand up for free speech they risk being internationally marginalised - a veiled threat that will be of serious concern to the Saudi authorities, who have been keen to market the country as a burgeoning research hub.

The letter - signed by a collection of Nobel Laureates including the novelist J M Coetzee - is addressed to Professor Jean-Lou Chameau, president of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). It warns: "The fabric of international co-operation may be torn apart by dismay at the severe restrictions on freedom of thought and expression still being applied to Saudi Arabian society. We have no doubt that members of KAUST share that concern, aware that the cruel sentence passed for example on Mr Raif Badawi, who established a forum for open discussion, sent a shock around the world."

In May last year Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes - to be administered at the rate of 50 per week - for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabia's clerics. His case was referred to the country's Supreme Court last week, shortly after his second round of flogging was delayed on medical grounds.

The targeting of KAUST is significant because one of its key aims was to enable Saudi Arabia to compete internationally in science and technology. The university campus is mixed-gender - unique in Saudi Arabia - with female students permitted to drive, mix freely with their male colleagues and remove their veils during classes.

Amnesty International's UK director Kate Allen said: "The Saudi authorities should call off the remaining 950 lashes for Mr Badawi and release him immediately. Raif is a free-speech activist and a prisoner of conscience, not a criminal."