Raif Badawi: Saudi blogger freed after decade in prison

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi - arrested in 2012 and later jailed and sentenced to 1,000 lashes - has been freed, his wife says.

"Raif called me. He is free," Ensaf Haidar told the AFP news agency.

Ms. Haidar, who fled to Canada with the couple's three children following an attempt on her husband's life, has been campaigning for his release.

There has been no official Saudi comment.

Mr. Badawi's son Terad also tweeted: "My father is free."

The now 38-year-old was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam" online. His sentence ended on 1 March.

There was an international outcry after he received the first 50 lashes in public in January 2015 and he was not lashed again.

He established the Liberal Saudi Network, a forum that sought to encourage debate on religious and political matters in Saudi Arabia, in 2008.

In 2012, he was arrested in the city of Jeddah and charged with "insulting Islam through electronic channels" and "going beyond the realm of obedience".

Later that year, a judge recommended that he also be tried for apostasy, which carries the death penalty, because Mr. Badawi had refused to "repent to God".

But that was not pursued by prosecutors, and in 2013 he was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes by a criminal court on the initial charges.

In 2014, an appeals court upheld the conviction and increased the punishment to 10 years in prison and 1,000 public lashes.

It also fined him 1m Saudi riyals ($267,000; £217,000) and banned him from any media work or foreign travel for 10 years after his release.