--- description: Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes last year for his liberal writings title: Jailed Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi to Share PEN Pinter Prize image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bf323305933c4e1/6988672c0a4a22762a9c66fc/gettyimages-462456800.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Saudi Arabia](/tag/saudi-arabia/) ## Saudi Arabia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Jailed Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Will Share a Top Literary Award by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2015 4:19 AM CUT  An Amnesty International activist holds a picture of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi during a protest against his flogging punishment on Jan. 29, 2015, in front of Saudi Arabia's embassy in Berlin An Amnesty International activist holds a picture of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi during a protest against his flogging punishment on Jan. 29, 2015, in front of Saudi Arabia's embassy in BerlinTobias Schwarz—AFP/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2015 4:19 AM CUT Raif Badawi, the blogger from Saudi Arabia sentenced to 1,000 lashes for his liberal writings, was [named](http://www.englishpen.org/events/raif-badawi-pen-pinter-2015/ "undefined") the 2015 International Writer of Courage and the joint winner of the PEN Pinter Prize on Tuesday. British poet and literary critic James Fenton was named the winner of the PEN Pinter Prize in June. He then chose Badawi to be his co-recipient from a shortlist of “international cases of concern” supported by the English chapter of PEN, a global organization of writers. “What moved me was the contrast between the simplicity of Badawi’s liberal aims — their modesty, almost — and the ferocity of the punishments they have brought down on him,” said Fenton, hailing the Saudi writer’s courage and conviction. Badawi was [fined](http://time.com/3668758/saudi-blogger-badawi-flogging/ "undefined") more than $250,000 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in May last year for setting up a blog called the Saudi Arabian Free Liberals Forum, which advocated free speech until it was shut down following his arrest in 2012\. The charges against him include “violating Islamic values and propagating liberal thought.” Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, who has actively campaigned for Badawi’s release and accepted the award on behalf of his family, criticized the British government for its lackluster condemning of the Saudi government. “Saudi Arabia is the U.K.’s biggest trading partner in the region,” Wales said, [according](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/06/jailed-saudi-blogger-raif-badawi-co-winner-pen-pinter-prize "undefined") to the _Guardian_. “It is time for the government to show moral leadership, to demonstrate that its support for human rights is more than rhetoric and to use the very considerable influence it has on the regime and win the freedom of Raif Badawi and all other political prisoners of conscience.” The Pinter Prize was instituted in 2009 in memory of British playwright and Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, and is awarded annually to a U.K. writer who demonstrates a “fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.” ### Rich Nation, Poor People: Saudi Arabia by Lynsey Addario  Fatima Hazazi stands in front of boxes of medicine she requires monthly to treat her kidney problem at home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Despite the extremely wealthy sector of society in Saudi Arabia, and the the veneer of widespread affluence projected outside the Kingdom, severe poverty is as much a part of life in Riyadh as wealth. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi children play on old furniture outside of the home in which they live in a poor neighborhood in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  One of twelve children living in a house that Yayeh Mussawa rents with his family in South Riyadh. Like many across Saudi Arabia who are living barely above the poverty line, Mussawa's family relies on charity to survive. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudis beg in a line on a street known to locals as 'The Beggars' Street,' in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi children do the dishes in a home in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Selma Saleh, an impoverished Saudi woman, sits on her bed in her home in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Matara stands with her two boys next to a sink without water in her home in South Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  A young man begs on the street in Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi citizens rest after presenting Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince al Waleed bin Talal, with petitions for his help at a desert camp outside of Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Young Saudi women pray in a friend's home before going out to dinner in Riyadh. Though statistics are difficult to confirm, youth unemployment and poverty are on the rise in Saudi Arabia. While society is increasingly open to women in the workforce, there are still limited jobs in which women and men can work side by side. There are a great number of highly educated Saudis who can not find work suitable for their qualifications. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  A Saudi woman bids on an Arabian Horse at an auction outside of Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudi men pray at dusk at a camel market outside of Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME  Saudis linger after an auction for Arabian Horses at a club outside of Riyadh. Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4064037/pen-pinter-prize-raif-badawi-james-fenton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4064037/pen-pinter-prize-raif-badawi-james-fenton/"},"headline":"Jailed Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Will Share a Top Literary Award","datePublished":"2015-10-07T04:19:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:20.472Z","description":"Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes last year for his liberal writings","url":"https://time.com/4064037/pen-pinter-prize-raif-badawi-james-fenton/","keywords":["Saudi Arabia","blogger"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bf323305933c4e1/6988672c0a4a22762a9c66fc/gettyimages-462456800.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bf323305933c4e1/6988672c0a4a22762a9c66fc/gettyimages-462456800.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GERMANY-SAUDI-ARABIA-BADAWI-PROTEST","caption":"GERMANY-SAUDI-ARABIA-BADAWI-PROTEST","creditText":"Tobias Schwarz—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/saudi-arabia/","name":"Saudi Arabia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4064037/pen-pinter-prize-raif-badawi-james-fenton/","name":"Jailed Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Will Share a Top Literary Award"}}]}] ```