Don't push us over jailed blogger Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia tells Canada

The ambassador was joined by the Egyptian and UAE envoys to discuss a dispute between the three Arab states and Qatar, calling on President Justin Trudeau to take their side in the diplomatic battle with Doha.

Alsudairy also used the opportunity to attack Canada's efforts in trying to secure the release of the jailed Saudi blogger.

"It's a [Saudi] court decision we have to respect. We respect the court decisions here in Canada and we believe that the Canadian friends should respect the Saudi court decision," Ambassador Alsudairy said in the press conference according to The Globe and Mail.

Raif Badawi was jailed for ten years and sentenced to 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam", due to the writing on his blog Saudi Free Liberals Forum.

His case has been widely followed by human rights groups who have described Badawi as a prisoner of conscious, and the blogger has been granted a number of international awards in recognition of his fight against censorship.

Although Badawi is a Saudi citizen, his wife Ensaf Haidar and the blogger's family fled to North America following alleged death threats in Saudi Arabia.

Based in Canada, Haidar has worked tirelessly for her husband's release and pressed Justin Trudeau to do all he can to have the Saudi government release him.

Following the press conference at the embassy, Haidar said that Saudi Arabia's envoy had essentially told Ottawa to "stop raising Raif Badawi's case".

But she hopes Trudeau will raise her husband's case with Saudi Arabia at this week's G20 summit in Hamburg, although King Salman has mysteriously called of his attendance at the meeting between the world's largest economies.

Riyadh has proven to be particularly prickly over Badawi's case and said to be particularly angered over Western "interference" in the matter.

Human rights groups say Badawi stands as a reminder of Europe and North America's hypocrisy regarding freedoms in the Middle East. Although critical of the authoritarian nature of countries such as Iran, they seldom condemn human rights abuses in allied countries.

Amnesty International condemned a comment by Trudeau last year when he said Canada must step carefully when pressing for Badawi's release.

"Obviously we want to be able to help," he told a Montreal radio station. "Sometimes, pushing too hard, too quickly has harmful consequences for the people you want to try to help."

Amnesty International described the comment as "indelicate" and "indecent".

Badawi was a well-known critic of the power of Saudi Arabia's religious authority and the conservative nature of society in the kingdom. He wrote about the need for essential reforms in the kingdom to grant Saudis the same freedoms people as in Europe.

He was sentenced in 2013, a year after his arrest, with the court ordering his site be taken offline.

Badawi avoided the much more serious charge of apostasy which would see him executed.

Human right groups continue to voice concern about the blogger's mental and physical well-being.