Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to table a petition signed by over a hundred Sherbrooke residents. They are asking the Government of Canada to use all of the diplomatic resources at its disposal to pressure the Saudi Arabian government to release Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. As we all know, he was jailed and sentenced to a thousand lashes for expressing his opinions on a blog on the Internet in an attempt to kindle political discussions in his country.
The petitioners are asking the government to use everything at its disposal to try to have Mr. Badawi released and bring him back to his wife and three children in Canada.