Ensaf Haidar accepted the prize yesterday at a reading organised by the Freethinkers, Amnesty Switzerland and the Forum für Democracy und Menschenrechte. In her book Freiheit für Raif Badawi, die Liebe meines Lebens (published 2016 in English as Raif Badawi, The Voice of Freedom: My Husband, Our Story) she describes her family history and her struggle for the release of her husband, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ten years in prison and who had been advocating liberal ideas and humanist values in a blog from 2008. In particular, he advocated women's rights and a separation of state and religion. Numerous articles by Badawi were initially printed in Saudi newspapers, and he was regularly asked to write columns.

Due to increasing threats, Raif Badawi temporarily shut down his blog and the family temporarily emigrated to Malaysia. However, they moved back to their homeland and Badawi dared to relaunch his discussion portal. From then on, Ensaf Haidar was an active participant herself.

In 2012, however, Raif was arrested and Ensaf and her three children set off to Canada, where she received political asylum. Since then, she has been committed with admirable vigour to the release of her husband, helping to ensure that the public pressure on the Saudi regime does not soften.

The monetary award is also intended to make a small contribution to alleviating the financial hardships of the prize winners. In the case of Waleed Abulkhair, the amount goes to his wife. Raif Badawi and Waleed Abulkhair were not only imprisoned, the state also denied them access to their bank accounts.

In future, the Swiss Freethinker Prize will be awarded every two years. It is financed by an inheritance.