On Sunday, the IPA named jailed Saudi writer and free speech activist, Raif Badawi, the winner of the first IPA Prix Voltaire, formerly the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize. Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar Mohammed, travelled from Canada – where she and their three children secured political asylum in 2013 – to collect the award on her husband’s behalf.
The International Publishers Association (IPA), the world’s largest federation of publishing associations, has named the jailed creator of a secularist Saudi website, Raif Badawi, the first winner of the IPA Prix Voltaire, formerly the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize.
Saudi Arabian writer, blogger and free speech activist, Raif Badawi, is currently four years into an extremely severe penal sentence that includes a 10-year jail term, 1,000 lashes and a hefty fine. Badawi is one of this year’s IPA Freedom to Publish Prize finalists.
Burmese poet and writer Moe Way, who co-founded Myanmar's The Eras publishing house to give voice to many of his country's unheard poets and writers, is one of five finalists for the 2016 Freedom to Publish Prize.
