Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

At 6 o'clock this evening outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Dublin a protest will take place organised by the National Union of Journalists and Amnesty International to highlight the plight and persecution of Raif Badawi, a liberal from Saudi Arabia who set up a website called Free Saudi Liberalswhich called for a debate on the freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia and for the separation of church and state there.

For his troubles, last year he was sentenced to 1,000 lashes over a period of 20 weeks which coincidentally began the very same week of the killings of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in Paris. He received the next 50 lashes the following Friday. Tomorrow, he will get another 50 lashes. This punishment will continue for another 17 weeks after which he will then serve ten years in prison. All just for calling for the freedom of speech and the separation of church and state. His lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, was also sentenced to 15 years in prison for criticising human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. This is against a background where 83 people were beheaded in Saudi Arabia last year. As one Italian journalist put it recently, when it comes to beheadings ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, has nothing over Saudi Arabia.

Given the justified outrage expressed by our Taoiseach and world leaders who went to the trouble of attending a mass rally in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo killings, declaring their commitment to freedom of speech, declaring their outrage that anybody would suppress freedom of speech or persecute or kill journalists, where is the outrage, condemnation and the demands for leniency by the Saudi Arabian Government in the case of Raif Badawi? Where are declarations that this will not be tolerated and action will be taken against Saudi Arabia over this persecution of a journalist?

Will we also do the same for the killing of 17 journalists during the Israeli assault on Gaza? This was justified by officials of the Israeli Defence Forces publicly with no condemnation, no rallies, no marches or threats of sanctions. World leaders, however, flocked to Paris saying they will not put up with the persecution of journalists. It was right to do this in Paris. Why do we say nothing when it comes to Saudi Arabia? Will the Taoiseach join the demonstration outside the Saudi Arabian embassy later, particularly if he went to the trouble of going to Paris several weeks ago? If there is this lack of consistency in calls for the upholding of the freedom of speech and defending journalists’ right to freedom of speech everywhere, can we really take seriously those very declarations of a commitment to the freedom of speech in Paris several weeks ago? It was utterly nauseating to see Benyamin Netanyahu on the Paris protest when he was responsible for the killing of 17 journalists in Gaza. Not a word was said about that. There were no protests, no rallies and no leaders joining marches against those killings in Gaza.

Will the Minister explain these double standards? Will the Government speak out loudly and angrily about what is happening to Raif Badawi? Will we demand trade sanctions be imposed on Saudi Arabia? Will representatives of the Government join protests demanding his release and the end to the persecution of journalists and people who wish to engage in free criticism and speech about social and political affairs in Saudi Arabia?

See this speech in context