Badawi posters: victory for freedom of expression in Interlaken
The posters for Raif Badawi are now allowed to hang everywhere in Interlaken. The Municipal Council of Interlaken has returned to its decision and allows the Freethinker Association to display their posters to #LetRaifFly also on the municipality-owned advertising spaces. The Freethinkers welcome this decision, and are very thankful for the quick concession and look forward to the feedback from Saudi guests.
At the council meeting of Wednesday, August 17, the Interlaken municipal council came back to its decision of July 20 and decided to approve the display of the posters for #LetRaifFly also on their own advertising spaces managed by APG! This was communicated by the Municipal Council to the Freethinkers by telephone on Wednesday afternoon.
Relevance of the discourse extraordinarily high
The campaign has already caused an uproar before its launch and received great attention in the (international) media. Politicians from the left to the right have participated in the public discourse and taken up the cause. Support for the Freethinkers is still very strong.
Since 2015, the Freethinkers have been campaigning for Raif Badawi, who was awarded the Freethought Prize at the time. Since then, the relevance of the issue grew even bigger. "The knife attack on Salman Rushdie on August 12 in New York and the sentencing of Salma al-Shebab on August 16 to 34 years in prison for following the "wrong" people on Twitter show that there is an absolute need for state reactions as well!" insists the President of the Free Thinker Association Andreas Kyriacou.
Discourse on social media:
#LetRaifFly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
Further information, images, etc. will be gladly provided by the Freethinkers. Various posters are hanging in Interlaken and the city of Bern and with this decision of the municipal council our campaign will soon be visible on their boards. Other places are under discussion.
Links:
- Our report from 10 August (in English)
- Report Switzerland Times (in English)
- Report Nation World (in English)
- Report Blick (in German)
- Report Berner Zeitung (in German)
- Report Berner Oberländer (in German)
- By the way, the story of Ensaf Haidar and Raif Badawi is also available as a book in our store.
- Badawi's release in March 2022 was also reported on by Amnesty International, among others.
- The first Free Thinkers Award 2015 went to the three Saudi citizens Ensaf Haidar, Raif Badawi and Waleed Abulkhair. The award recognizes their courageous commitment to humanist and secular values.
- Freidenker Prize for Salman Rushide and Barbara Miller 2019