Canada votes to offer citizenship to jailed Saudi blogger

Raif Badawi, whose wife and children live in Canada, is serving a 10-year jail sentence in Saudi Arabia for "insulting Islam."
A picture taken on January 8, 2021 shows a portrait of Raif Badawi during an action of the human rights NGO Amnesty International in front of the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Brussels, calling for the release of the jailed Saudi blogger. - Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP) (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)
A picture taken on Jan. 8, 2021, shows a portrait of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi during an Amnesty International demonstration calling for his release in front of the Saudi Embassy in Brussels. - KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

Canadian lawmakers voted on Wednesday to grant citizenship to a jailed Saudi blogger whose family lives in Quebec. 

By a unanimous vote, the House of Commons approved a motion calling on Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino to offer Raif Badawi citizenship “in order to remedy a particular situation and unusual distress.” The non-binding motion doesn't legally require Mendicino to act. 

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